Return of the Jedi
by Transformers g1's-Prime
Summary: After his duel on the Death Star, Obi-Wan Kenobi is given a second chance in a new timeline, before the eruption of the Clone Wars, to save the galaxy from the Shroud of the Dark Side and prevent the rise of both the Galactic Empire and its dark enforcer: Darth Vader...
1. The Will of the Force

_**Disclaimer - I do not own Star Wars and never will. That goes to Disney...**_

* * *

 _ **Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter I: The Will of the Force**_

* * *

"We think they may be splitting up. They may be on Level 5 and 6 now, sir." the voice of a Stormtrooper informed his commanding officer as the squad of troopers ran down one of the many corridors of the Orbital Battle Station appropriately titled the Death Star.

Slipping out of the dark corridor from where he was hiding, Obi-Wan Kenobi paused briefly to search his surrondings, as he unhooked his lightsaber from his belt; the lightsaber was the weapon of a Jedi Knight and the blade that he's wielded during the Clone Wars and the Great Jedi Purge.

Lifting the hood of his brown cloak over his head, the Jedi Master proceeded down the corridor to where the hanger bay was. With any luck, Luke and Captain Solo would be there with Princess Leia.

Suddenly, a wave of hatred that pulsed loudly through the Force, stealing the breath from his lungs. The familiar presence that he had not encountered since the climatic duel on the hellish world of Mustafar was nearby and it was looking for _him._

Obi-Wan's lips thinned into a grim line when he heard the repeating mechanical breathing of an suit that sounded like similar to that of the late General Grievous.

He felt his hand tighten around the handle of his lightsaber when he heard the familiar hum of an ignited lightsaber.

And he came to a stop when he rounded around the corner to see the dark figure that he's heard about for the past 19 years on HoloNet broadcasts or the whispers from the space pilots of the territories of the Outer Rim.

The young man who was once Anakin Skywalker, the Hero with No Fear and the Chosen One, no longer existed.

In his place, consumed by anger and loss, was the Dark Lord of the Sith and Supreme Commander of the Imperial Forces, Darth Vader.

The glow of the Sith Lord's red lightsaber reflected off Vader's armor and the dark durasteel floor and corridors of the small hallway. Vader slowly began to advance on Kenobi, each step he took growing louder than before, and raised his weapon to attack.

Realizing that there was no way to avoid this confrontation, Kenobi ignited his lightsaber, the blue blade springing to life before his very eyes, possibly for the final time.

"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last." The voicebox of Vader boomed loudly. "The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now I am the master." Vader stated, arrogantly asserting his own power.

Kenobi raised his blade to match the pose of his former apprentice. "Only a master of evil, Darth." he retorted, mocking the Dark Lord with his Sith title.

He then struck at Vader with speed that surprised the two of them, as Vader took the blow and riposted, speeding up his timing, forcing Kenobi back. Kenobi twirled and blocked a slash, weaving a defensive pattern with his blade.

As they fought, Vader reflected that Kenobi still possessed great skill despite his age, but was out of practice. Though Kenobi's age and lack of practice had decreased his combat effectiveness, Vader mused that he needed to conduct himself cautiously if he was to defeat Kenobi. For though Vader knew his skill and power were greater than Kenobi's, he had boasted similar advantages during his duel with Kenobi on Mustafar, but had been defeated nonetheless. As such, he refrained from utilizing the same sort of recklessness offensive that had resulted in his dismemberment, and adopted a fairly defensive posture.

As the duel progressed, Kenobi found that, while he was still able to anticipate Vader's attacks and defend himself, he could find no openings in Vader's cautious but ruthless assault. As such, all he could do was to simply block Vader's cybernetically enhanced blows, the act of which was rapidly depleting his energy reserves.

Vader sensed Kenobi's failing strength. "Your powers are weak, old man." he derisively taunted the Jedi Master, who narrowed his eyes at the cyborg.

"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Kenobi cryptically responded. Vader saw this statement as a taunt but refused to be baited.

Kenobi lunged again, but Vader was ready, bringing them into a momentary bladelock. Vader shoved hard, breaking the lock and forced Kenobi to pull back. Vader angled his blade up. "You should not have come back," he stated grimly, but Kenobi did not respond.

After another exchange, Kenobi saw an opportunity to redirect the duel and began backing away. In backing away, Kenobi drew the duel into the open, right in front of the entrance to the main hanger of Docking Bay 327. Vader attacked once more and began to chivvy Kenobi into a wall. Just as Vader was about to deliver a finishing strike, Kenobi unleashed a sudden flurry of attacks that forced a surprise Vader to pull back.

As they rapidly circled one another, the stormtroopers standing guard over the _Millenium Falcon_ became aware of their battle and moved to cover the entrance to the hanger. However, this enabled the odd-looking group of people, who had been waiting for just such an opportunity, to quickly sneak across the hanger to the _Falcon._

All except for one.

"Ben?" came the soft voice of Luke Skywalker, who noticed Ben, the man who had taken the young adult under his wing after the not-so recent death of his aunt and uncle, battling a mysterious figure clothed in black with blades of blue and red crossed, and moved in for a closer look. He saw, to his horror, that this dark figure was Darth Vader, the man who was once the apprentice of Ben...

...And the man who murdered _his_ father.

He felt his grip on the E-11 carbine rifle tighten with whispers forming in the back of his head, tempting him to open fire on the small group and end the Dark Lord's life. Briefly, he considered doing that before he realized that he may miss and hit one of the Stormtroopers or even worse, Ben.

All he could do was watch in dismay as the two titans clash in a spectacular view of sparks and determination.

* * *

 _"Ben?"_

He froze when he heard that familiar voice. It couldn't be, he should have been in the ship by now, not out here in the open like a sore spot.

Kenobi risked a glance into the hanger, where he saw his companions had reached the ship. The Wookiee, Chewbacca, had disappeared into the YT-1300 light freighter with Captain Solo standing on the ramp with Princess Leia. _'By the Force, she looks just like her mother.'_ Obi-Wan thought with a pang in his heart. He suddenly felt old.

But his attention was on the young man staring at the scene before him with alarm: Luke...

Understanding that he was doomed but knowing that his defeat might serve to distract Vader from finding out about both of his children, he resolved to end the duel on his own terms.

He turned to Vader and, to Vader's bemusement, smiled, and raised his lightsaber so the tip pointed straight up in the gesture of surrender, deliberately lowering his guard.

This action was so totally unexpected that Vader stood for a moment in bafflement, trying to reason out how Kenobi's apparently suicidal tactic could possibly benefit the Jedi Master. However, Vader quickly decided that even if Kenobi was attempting to ensnare him in a trap of some kind, Kenobi would not be fast enough to effectively employ such a tactic.

"NO!" cried Luke Skywalker, as he watched Vader cut hard at Kenobi's neck, but just as Vader struck, Kenobi vanished, becoming one with the Force.

* * *

A bright light had blinded everything in the sight of the Negotiator, before it died down completely. Obi-Wan opened his eyes and blinked twice as he surveyed his surroundings. He found himself in a place of where it was nothing more, but an endless white void that seemed to have no beginning nor ending.

"Hello Obi-Wan,"

The familiar voice caused Obi-Wan to freeze in his place. He had heard the voice during his new training during his exile, but not in this way. It almost sounded like he was... alive. He slowly turned around to see the form of Qui-Gon Jinn standing behind him, smiling as gently as he always did.

"Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan breathed, the air in his lungs gone once again. "How is this possibly? Am I... dead?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "No, my young padawan, you are not dead. You are in the void that is connected to both the living and the Force."

Obi-Wan's brow furrowed in confusion. "But why am I here?" he asked slowly.

"You have been brought here for a purpose. I am here to tell you that the Force has given you a second chance."

"A second chance of what?"

Qui-Gon looked amused. "One of the brightest Knights of your time and you haven't even figured it out."

It finally dawned on Obi-Wan, as his face took on one of astonishment. "You mean... time travel?"

"Yes, Obi-Wan. You will be sent into a new timeline and should arrive around the time after your mission to Ansion."

Ansion. The last mission both he and Anakin had been sent on right before the attempted assassination of Padme and Geonosis... and the Clone Wars.

"I'm afraid to say that you may not be able to stop the Clone Wars from erupting," Qui-Gon stated sadly, as if he read Obi-Wan's mind, to which he probably did. "Though you may be able to change other events."

"Like what?"

Qui-Gon shook his head. "It will be the will of the Force to show you what events you can change. I am here to ask if you will take this new task and save the galaxy from the darkness that now consumes it?"

Obi-Wan was silent for a long time. A second chance in life? A second chance to save all those he's failed before in the past. Luke, the Jedi Order, Padme, Satine... Anakin.

Obi-Wan bend down on one knee with his head bowed. "Yes. I, Obi-Wan Kenobi, will uptake this mission and save the galaxy from the darkness and I am ready for what lies ahead."

"Good, good," Qui-Gon smiled. "Ahead of you is a difficult path, Obi-Wan, and I believe that you can succeed." He slowly started to disappear, causing Obi-Wan to gasp in shock. "And now I bid you farewell, but know that I have loved as a student, a friend... and a son." His form disappeared completely, but his voice gave one last whisper.

 _"Until we meet again, May the Force be with you._ And with that, the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn trailed off into silence, leaving Obi-Wan standing alone in the void.

Then, Obi-Wan felt himself feeling tired and weary; he looked down to see the lower part of his body slowly start to fade like Qui-Gon did and closed his eyes, letting the Force lift him from the void and back into the world of the living.

* * *

On the consular ship in hyperspace, on route to the planet Coruscant, an auburn Jedi Master in his mid 30s meditated. He felt at peace with the Force, letting the emotions of calmness and serenity wash over him like a warm blanket over a young child.

Suddenly, he groaned in pain as a sudden wave of pain overcame his senses. He tried to call out his Padawan's name, but only managed to get out a yelp of pain. Images of memories slowly came into his mind; the Mission to Kamino, the Battle of Geonosis, the Clone Wars, Satine's death, Coruscant and Utapau, Order 66 and the Rise of the Empire, the Duel on Mustafar, his Exile on Tatooine, the Death Star, his duel with Vader and Qui-Gon informing him of his new mission.

He collapsed into a heap onto the cold floor, sweat pouring down his face at an alarming rate, before he took a deep breath and calmed his senses. He was back in the past and he knew what he had to do. It was time to change the future.

And with that determined thought, Obi-Wan Kenobi opened his eyes for the first time in this new timeline.


	2. Return to Coruscant

_**Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter II: Return to Coruscant**_

* * *

Obi-Wan slowly sat up from his position on the floor, taking in his surroundings as he's always done in the past. He seemed to be in a room on some sort of starship, presumably his room on the consular ship on its way back to Coruscant.

The planet's name made him stop in his tracks. The last time he had been on that planet was when the Empire rose to power with Palpatine crowning himself as the self-proclaimed Emperor. Oh, the disgust he had whenever he saw the recording of the Declaration of a New Order that was shown every Empire Day.

Suddenly, the door behind him slipped open and he heard the sound of boots walking in. "Master, I sensed your distress. Are you okay?"

The soft, yet concerned voice made the air leave Obi-Wan's lungs once again. He slowly turned around to see a young man nearing the age of 20 with short, cropped dirty blonde hair with intense blue eyes that was exactly identical to his son. He wore the robes of a Jedi, albeit a darker color, and had the braid of the Padawan on the right side of his head.

It was Anakin.

The young man's visage grew more concerned. "Master, do you need me to get you to a medical station?' Obi-Wan hid his smile. Even without knowing the situation, Anakin was willing to do whatever it took to help those he cared for.

"No," he croaked, giving a loud cough and regained his vocal cords. "No, I'm fine. I just... fell."

"You fell?" the skepticism was obvious in his voice.

"Yes. I guess those gundarks must have done more damage than I thought."

An awkward silence falls upon the room. "Right," Anakin said slowly. "Anyways, Master Luminara requests for you to come up the the cockpit. We're nearing Coruscant."

Obi-Wan smiled. "Of course."

* * *

The door to the cockpit opened and Anakin and Obi-Wan walked inside to greet the two female Mirialan Jedi. They were Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and her Padawan Learner Barriss Offee. Obi-Wan repressed a shiver at the sight of the younger Mirilan; he remembered the actions of Barriss in the final months of the Clone Wars. Perhaps, he could prevent that as well.

"Ah, Master Kenobi," the rich voice of Luminara drawed him out of his thoughts. "I was wondering when you would wake up. We are arriving at the planet right about now."

With that statement, the blue vortex of hyperspace died down and revealed the hundreds, if not thousands, of star in the deep blackness of space. Below the ship and stars was the planet Coruscant. Even now, it was still as breath-taking as always.

 _"Consular c_ _ruiser, identify yourself and state your purpose or else."_ the voice of a clipped Coruscanti accent crackled through the comm channel, as a squadron of _CloakShape_ fighters appeared beside the consular ship.

Barriss opened the channel and gestured for either him or Luminara to speak. Naturally, it was Luminara who did the talking. "This is Jedi Master Luminara Unduli returning from the planet Ansion and we are requesting permission to land."

The channel was silent for a moment, before the voice came through with a warmer tone this time. _"Copy that. You have permission to land. Welcome back Master Jedi."_

Luminara gave a small smile. "Thank you." She signed off and the rest of the trip was spent in silence. Anakin and Barriss guided the ship through the planet's atmosphere and the big, puffy clouds of the planet as seen in the morning.

Emerging from the clouds, they began to fly through the ecumenopolis, dodging many speeders and watching out for any signs of potential danger, though Obi-Wan knew that there wasn't any. Ahead of them was the headquaters of the Jedi Order that has stood for nearly a millennium; the Jedi Temple.

Obi-Wan tried to hide the tears growing at the corners of his eyes. The last time he saw the Temple was nothing more but a charred and smoking ruin. A palace with its hallways littered with the dead bodies of clones and Jedis accompanied by the voices of pain and other negative emotions.

"Jeez, Master," Anakin said, trying to make the atmosphere lighter when they saw Obi-Wan's face. "You look like you haven't seen the Temple in years."

 _'You don't know the half of it,'_ he thought sadly, continuing to stare at the massive building that grew closer and closer with the ship's approaching.

* * *

Walking through the main hanger of the Jedi Temple was Mace Windu, a male Korun Human Jedi Master of legendary status in the Order as he was considered one of the best swordsman in the Jedi Order for the past 25,000 years of existence.

Accompanying him was the Grand Master of the Jedi Order, Yoda. Standing at 66 cm tall, Yoda was a member of a mysterious species, details of which he has not reveal to anyone and is considered to be not only the oldest Jedi alive, but the wisest and most powerful of the entire Order.

As they walked through the hanger, the two were having a conversation of the recent events that have just unfolded. The attempt on Senator Amidala's life and the conversation in the Supreme Chancellor's office about Count Dooku, the former Jedi Master who left after growing disillusioned with the corruption in the government and now leads several thousand star systems in a movement to secede from the Galactic Republic.

"It troubles me to hear Count Dooku's name mentioned in such a manner, Master," Mace said to Yoda. "And from one as esteemed as Senator Amidala. Any mistrust of Jedi, or even former Jedi, in times such as these can be disastrous."

"Deny Dooku's involvement in the separatist movement, we cannot," Yoda reminded him.

"Nor can we deny that he began in that movement because of ideals," Mace argued. "He was once our friend-that we must not forgot-and to hear him slandered and named as an assassin-"

"Not named," Yoda said. "But darkness there is, about us all, and in that darkness, nothing is what it seems."

"But it makes little sense to me that Count Dooku would make an attempt on the life of Senator Amidala, when she is the one most adamantly opposed to the creation of an army. Would the separatists not wish Amidala well in her endeavors? Would they not believe that she is, however unintentionally, an ally to their cause? Or are we really to believe that they want war with the Republic?"

Yoda leaned heavily on his cane, suddenly feeling weary. "More is here than we can know," he said quietly, his huge eyes closed. "Clouded is the Force. Troubling it is."

Mace dismissed his response, in further defense of his old friend. Dooku had been among one of the most accomplished Jedi Master, respected among the Order from youngest to oldest. Some would say that he was a student of older and more profound philosophies and styles of the Jedi, which included being one of the finest practitioners of Makashi, the second form of lightsaber combat and a style of combat that most Jedi wouldn't use.

It was a great blow to the Order, both physically and mentally, when Dooku walked away from them, for many of the same reasons the separatists were now trying to walk away: the perceptions that the Republic had grown too uncoordinated and unresponsive to the needs of all the individuals of even independent systems.

It was no less troubling to Mace concerning Dooku, as it is to Amidala and Palpatine concerning the separatists, that some of the arguments against the Republic were not without worth.

A low rumbling brought him out of his thoughts, as he and Yoda looked up to see a consular ship bearing the symbol of both the Republic and the Jedi Order slowly guides itself to the landing pad outside and lands with silent grace. After a few moments, the ramp of the ship slowly open and landed, clouding the two's vision with the smoke that accompanied the ramp, as out walks Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. Following close behind them is Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Mace paused for a moment. Stretching out his senses in the Force, he was able to sense that Kenobi's aura was surprisingly brighter and more in dept in the Force than he originally was before the mission to Ansion. He sensed the others auras to see that they were the same as before; Luminara and Barriss, calm and patient. Anakin, prideful and brash. But Kenobi was different. Originally cautious and conservative, he was now kindly and eccentric, yet filled with sorrow and remorse. Could it be that something happened to him during the mission?

Mace spared a quick glance with his small companion, apparently, he too wasn't the only one who sensed the new Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Greetings, Luminara," he said, his voice hard to hear over the endless streams of the airspeeders. "I take it that your mission to Ansion was a success."

"Hello to you too, Master Windu," Luminara replied with a smale smile. "And you, as well, Master Yoda." She inclined her head to the small lifeform, who smiled back at her, unlike his companion. "Our mission to Ansion _was_ a success, the planet remains allied to the Republic with no casualties."

Mace nodded. "Very good, you may retire to your quarters. The Council will call on you to deliver your report whenever you're ready."

With that said, the two Mirialan Jedi bowed in respect to their elders and walked away from the platform and into the hanger where they disappeared into the noises of starfighter engines and electric sparks.

Mace turned to the duo in front of him. "It's good to see you two are okay, were there any complications on the mission?" Although it sounded like a typical way to start a conversation, Obi-Wan detected the small hint of suspicion in the Korun's voice.

"No problems," Obi-Wan replied casually. "Just a small run-in with your typical bounty hunters here and there. That and the nest of gundarks."

Mace cocked an eyebrow. "Gundarks?" He echoed, catching the sight of Skywalker's face flushing with embarrassment. He would have to read that report sooner than expected.

"As it warms my heart to see you two, a new mission you have." Yoda's voice entered into the conversation for the first time. "Nearly assassinated, young Amidala was. Assigned to her protection, you are. Report to her apartment at the Senator's Complex at early as possible."

Obi-Wan felt Anakin tense up beside him and his emotions flare high. It seems his concern for Padme was still as strong as before. Nevertheless, he bowed to the two. "Understood, Masters," he replied. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

* * *

The lights over Coruscant slowly began to dim, gradually replaced by the natural lights of the few twinkling stars that could get through the nearly continual glare, as Obi-Wan and Anakin stood in the turbolift of the Senator Apartment Complex. The Jedi Master pondered on the events that are about to take place. The meeting with Padme and the Clawdite assassin's attempt on the Senator's life.

Padme.

The name made his stomach grow cold inside. The last time he saw the young woman was on her deathbed on the barren planetoid called Polis Massa, giving birth to the twins, Luke and Leia, before she died. However, her last words still plagued his dreams, even to this day.

* * *

 _"Obi-Wan... there... is still good in him. I know there is... still..."_

 _Her voice faded to an empty sigh, and she sagged back against the pillow. Half a dozen different scanners buzzed with conflicting alarm tones, and the medical droids shooed him from the room._

 _He stood in the hall outside, looking on helplessly as the young, bright Senator of Naboo slowly left the living world. He found himself praying to the Force that she would be all right, that she would live and raise her children that she and Ana-_

 _No._

 _Anakin was dead, killed on Coruscant during the fall of the Jedi Order. In his place, using his brother's body as a costume to mask his true self, was the Sith Lord called Darth Vader._

 _The Sith that he'd killed._

 _The Sith he left to die, horribly mutilated and burning to a charred crisp, on the shore of the lava river on the volcanic world called Mustafar._

 _Or as most spacers would call it; hell._

 _His thoughts were interrupted when a medical droid emerged from the emergency room. Even though it wasn't organic, he could sense the air of defeat around it. "We tried our best, I'm afraid," its metallic, monotone voice taking on a tone that one could barely classify as regretful. "But we were too late... I'm sorry, but she's gone."_

 _The world seemed to go deaf around him. His chest grew heavy, closing the gap between his lungs and the air. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't._

 _This was a nightmare, he tried to rationalize the situation. It just had to be, he was probably on the Integrity sound asleep and An-Anakin would be right there in front of him, giving that charming grin as he always did._ _He closed his eyes, as hard as he could, and counted._

 _1..._

 _2..._

 _3..._

 _He opened his eyes, expecting to awake in his quarters with his brother not far behind. But all he saw, straight ahead, was the cold, dead body of Padme Amidala lying still on her death bed, her two new-born infants, seemingly crying over the loss of their mother._

 _It wasn't a dream. It was real._

 _His thumb stroked something odd in the palm of his hand. He opened it to see what she pressed into his hand. It was a pendant of some kind, an amulet, unfamiliar sigils carved into some sort of organic material, strung on a loop of leather. In the Force, he could feel the touches of her skin._

 _He didn't speak until Bail and Yoda came for him._

 ** _"Master? Master, are you in there?"_**

* * *

Obi-Wan blinked rapidly at the sight of the hand that keeps waving in front of his face. He must have zoned out for a moment. He turned to face the concerned face of his padawan.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a panic. "Do you need me to contact Master Che or Bant?"

"No, I'm fine." Obi-Wan replied, repeating what he told his padawan on the consular ship. "I just zoned out for a bit, nothing much."

Anakin looked incredulous. "You zoned out? Master, you're starting to freak me out."

Obi-Wan sighed. He really was getting to old for this sort of stuff. "Anakin, look at me," he said firmly, yet it sounded like an order that he used to give during the war. "I'm okay, I'm just tired from the mission and I promise that when this is all over, I'll get some sleep."

Anakin looked like he was about to say something, but swallowed it down. "Okay, I understand."

The rest of the lift was spent in silence.

* * *

The lift door opened and Obi-Wan entered into the corridor, followed closely by Anakin. Across the way from them, a door slid open and a well-dressed Gungan, wearing fine red and black robes, stepped into the corridor opposite of them. The three stopped to study one another for just a moment, before a wide grin emerged on the Gungan's face.

"Obi!" Jar Jar Binks cried, his ears flapping. "Mesa so happy to see yousa again."

Obi-Wan smiled at the Gungan. There was a small part of him that actually missed the friendly Gungan's antics. But now was not the time for any catching up to do. "Good to see you again, Jar Jar, but may we be able to see Senator Amidala, please?"

The Gungan's face took on a more serious expression. "Shesa been expecting yousa. Follow mesa please." His head bobbled a bit more and led the two Jedi down the hallway of the apartment.

"So, you're a diploment, Jar Jar?" Anakin asked, hoping to ease his anxiety of seeing Padme again.

The Gungan nodded, still not knowing who the young Jedi was. "I an parten of de official Naboo delegation. Boss Nass appointed mesa."

Obi-Wan mused. "It's not like battle, is it?" he asked.

Jar Jar shook his head grimly. "Sometimes itsa worse!"

Standing in the room, awaiting the Jedi's arrival, was a trio of the Naboo people. The handmaiden, Dorme, stood in one of the elegant, yet understand dresses typical of a Naboo handmaiden. Standing next to her was the Naboo captain, Typho, who wore the new military garb of the Royal Naboo Security Forces with a stiff cap and hardened face.

Anakin's attention, however, was on the third person in the room. Padme. She looked as beautiful as he remembered. Oh, how he yearned to hug her as they did all those years ago on Naboo.

"Senator?" Jar Jar announced. "Desa Jedi have arriven."

"It's a pleasure to see you again, M'Lady," Obi-Wan said, fighting down the pang he had in his heart upon seeing the beautiful, young Senator again.

Behind him, Anakin stares at Padme, who glances at him, but doesn't say anything in return. She took Obi-Wan's hand into her own. "It has been far too long, Master Kenobi." _'You have no idea.'_ "I'm so glad our paths have crossed again... but I must warn you that I think your presence here is unnecessary."

Obi-Wan shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm sure _we_ can handle it."

 _'We?'_ Padme thought in confusion, before she caught sight of the young man who stood behind his master. He looked rather familiar to her, but she brushed it off. "Ah, yes, your Padawan learner..." Moving in front of him, she managed to get a good look at him and her expression took on one of pure incredulous. "Annie? My goodness, you've grown."

The two looked at each other for a longer moment with the room waiting for which one would speak first. As before, it was Anakin. "So have you... grown more beautiful, I mean... and much shorter... for a Senator, I mean." he said, trying to sound smooth, before he started to stammer like a shy schoolboy.

Obi-Wan and the other participants fought back their smiles, as Padme laughs and shakes her head. "Oh Annie, you'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine."

This embarrasses Anakin and he looks down at his boots. Obi-Wan and the others began to move toward the sitting area, Anakin rolling his eyes at himself as they do. "You've grown shorter?" he muttered under his breath. By the Force, he couldn't have come up with something better than... _that!_

They each take their own seats, Obi-Wan and Anakin on the sofa and Padme and Dorme in their own respective chairs. Both Typho and Jar Jar remains standing.

"Our presence will be invisible, M'Lady, I can assure you." Obi-Wan assured Padme.

"I'm very grateful you're here, Master Kenobi," Typho added. "I am Captain Typho, head of Queen Jamillia's security service. I have been assigned to the protection of the Senator, as well, but the situation is more dangerous than the Senator will admit."

An annoyed look passed over Padme's face. "I don't need more security, I need answers. I want to know who is trying to kill me."

Anakin's head snapped to attention. "We will find out who's trying to kill you, Padme," the Padawan insisted. "I promise you." As soon as he finished, he suddenly recognized his error and bit his lip in frustration as he waited for Obi-Wan to scold him.

However, to his surprise, Obi-Wan nodded in agreement. "He's right, while we have been assigned to protect you, that doesn't mean that we can't investigate the whereabouts of this assassin of yours." He felt Anakin's shock and agreement through the Force, but he didn't comment on it.

"Perhaps with your presence, these mysteries surrounding this threat will be revealed," Padme smiled at Anakin and at Obi-Wan, a gesture of civility, before she stood up. "Now, if you excuse me, I will retire for the evening."

Everyone gives Amidala a slight bow as she and Dorme left the room and into Padme's small room.

"Well, I know I feel a lot better having you here. I'll have an officer situated on every floor and I'll be at the control center downstairs." Typho said, moving closer to the pair.

"What levels are above this one?" Obi-Wan asked, even though he already knew.

"A speeder garage only, accessed by this stair," Typho explained, showing Obi-Wan the door on the far wall leading to the roof, while Anakin walked by Jar Jar.

"Mesa busting wit happiness seein yousa again, Annie."

"She didn't even recognize me," Anakin said sadly, staring at the door through which Padme had departed. He shook his head and turned to the Gungan. "I've thought about here every day since we parted, and she's forgotten me completely."

"Why yousa sayen that?" Jar Jar asked.

"You saw her,"

"Shesa happy." the Gungan assured him. "Happier den mesa seeing her in longo time."

Anakin shook his head and was about to reply, until he saw Obi-Wan beginning to move towards him and wisely held back his tongue.

"Come along, Anakin," Obi-Wan said. "Captain Typho wants us to check out the security here. We have much to do."

Anakin bowed. "Yes, Master."

* * *

Unbeknownst to the two of them, a young Senator was thinking about what the younger Jedi had said and began questioning her own feelings for him.


	3. Assassins

_**Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter III: Assassins**_

* * *

Standing on the roof of the Trade Federation Office Tower was a figure dressed in grey armor that was somewhat outdated, scorched with burns and blaster shots, thought it was still undeniably effective. Though the helmet was the most important part, as it told who this figure was; it was a full-face helmet with a tinted visor in the shape of a Tau cross.

This was Jango Fett, the last of the True Mandalorians.

Pulling up near the ledge was a speeder and hovered on the spot. His associate, Zam Wesell, climbed out of the cockpit and stepped onto the ledge in front of several bright financial advertisements, practically begging people to try and save the dying building behind him, wearing a red veil over a dark-purple leather jumpsuit and boots. This was not a statement of fashion, however, this was an implement, used to hide her true features.

After all, Clawdites were not a trusted species, for reasons.

"You know that we failed?" Jango asked, thought it sounded more like a statement to the Clawdite, who tried to hide her discomfort.

"You told me to kill those in the Naboo starship," Zam replied. "I hit the ship, but they used a decoy. Those who were aboard are dead."

Jango hid his frown. His employer had seen today's Senate discussion and was furious when he contacted Jango about his failure. "We'll have to try something more subtle this time. My client is getting impatient. There can be no mistakes this time." He handed Zam a tube containing two centipedelike creatures that were wiggling inside the tube, trying to escape.

"Kouhuns. Very poisonous."

The Clawdite inspected the tube with excitement, her mouth growing wide underneath her veil, before she looked to Jango and nodded.

The Mandalorian started to leave the scene before he paused and looked back to his hired assassin. "No mistakes." he said darkly. "Tidy yourself up when you're done." And with that, he activated his jetpack and rocketed away off into the twilight of the Courscant skyline.

* * *

Anakin stood in the living room of Padme's apartment, absorbing the area around him, using the lack of physical noise to bolster his mental connection to that more subtle realm of the Force.

His eyes were closed, but he could sense any disturbance in the Force with the region around him with a clearness that impressed many of the Order's members.

When the door to the room slid open, his eyes opened wide, expecting an intruder and grasped his lightsaber in his hand. Only to relax when he sees that it was just Obi-Wan walking into the room.

Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow, noticing Anakin's lightsaber in his hand. "I hope you're not planning to spar in the good Senator's apartment," he smirked, much to Anakin's embarrassment. "Captain Typho has more than enough men downstairs. No assassin will try that way. I take it that there's no activity up here?"

"Quiet as a tomb," Anakin replied. "Though... I don't like waiting in here. I just feel like something is ready to jump out, guns ablaze."

"Well, unless this assassin uses a cloaking device, I think we're safe for the time being." Obi-Wan said.

Anakin shifted uncomfortably. "Padme... Senator Amidala covered the cam, I don't think she liked us watching her."

Instead of getting mad like he thought he would, Obi-Wan simply raised an eyebrow. "I take it Artoo is watching her?" It was more like a statement more than a question.

Anakin blinked in surprise. "Y-Yes," he stammered. "She programmed Artoo to warn us if there's an intruder," Something was seriously wrong with Obi-Wan if he wasn't freaking out over this.

"Well, as long as Artoo can inform us, I'm sure we'll be prepared." said Obi-Wan, walking into the adjoining room. Before Anakin could say anything else, Obi-Wan continued. "You look tired," he commented, noticing the lines around his eyes.

Anakin shrugged, not disagreeing. "I don't sleep well anyone."

Obi-Wan's lips thinned grimly, almost in a knowing gesture. He took a step foward. "Because of your mother?" he asked in a cautious manner.

The Padawan sighed, a mixture of confusion and frustration edged in with his tiredness. "I don't know why I keep having these dreams. I haven't seen her since I left."

"Your love for her was, and still is, deep," Obi-Wan said. "That is hardly reason for despair."

"But these are more than that... I don't know if they're dreams or if they're visions. Are they images of what has been, or do they tell of something that is yet to be?"

Obi-Wan shifted uncomfortably. He didn't know that the visions were this serious back in the old timeline. Looks like he would have to tread around this carefully. "Well, there have been times back in the age of the Old Republic of where several Jedi were receiving visions of people that they knew in pain or worse. As much as it pains me to say this, but... your mother may be one of them."

"Oh, Force." Anakin groaned in sorrow, leaning against the balcony in support. He suddenly felt nauseous. "Wh-what am I suppose to do? If I don't do anything, she may be, or already is, dead."

Obi-Wan's eyes softened in sympathy. Had his brother's visions this painful for him back in the old timeline? If so, damn him and his stupidity!

He was about to respond when it happened. A sudden ringing that rang loudly in his ears, as all the air in his lungs suddenly went out. He turned to Anakin, whose face was several shades paler. "I sense it, too," his voice cracked, as he rushed past Obi-Wan and into Padme's room, activating his lightsaber before the door even opened and sliced the two kouhuns on the Senator's bed with such grace that it surprised himself.

As he entered the room, Obi-Wan spotted the ASN courier droid hovering outside Padme's window. Acting quickly, he pulled out a homing beacon from his belt and threw it onto the droid's side, as it retracted from the window and blasted away from the complex as fast as its repulsorlift could take it.

"Anakin?!" Padme sputtered, turning to him.

A look of intensity appeared in his eyes. "Stay here!" he instructed, dashing out of the room behind Obi-Wan, as Captain Typho and a handful of guards, including Dorme, charged in.

"Milady," Dorme asked in a panic. "Are you alright?" But Padme didn't respond.

All she did was look at the spot of where Anakin was; the very man who just saved her life.

* * *

"If the beacon is right, we should be able to track the droid back to its source of origin." Obi-Wan shouted over the screeching of Coruscant's traffic, as they approached the garage of where the speeders resided.

Anakin didn't respond. His only attention was on capturing the droid that nearly ended Padme's life. He leaped into the driver's seat of a gonzo-colored XJ-6 airspeeder. He fired it up and slammed his dark-brown boot on the gas pedal and flew out of the garage before Obi-Wan could fully get in.

"Hey!" the Jedi Master shouted in annoyance. "Wait until my whole body's in the speeder before you blast your way out of a building next time!"

"Sorry," Anakin apologized, although he didn't sound like it, as the two slowly started to catch up to the droid's trail.

* * *

Zam Wesell stood on the building's balcony, rapidly tapping his foot in annoyance. Just how long did it take for a droid to kill a Senator in her sleep? She then spotted a small movable object floating towards her at high speeds, as a dark smile formed underneath her veil. It seems like the droid did succeed in its job. Now Jango's informer didn't have to worry about the pacifistic Senator and her words of peace.

Suddenly, a small beeping drew her out of her thoughts and she surveyed the area for the source of the noise. She stopped and slowly craned her head towards the floating droid. It couldn't be? She grabbed the droid and spun it around and to find to her horror, a tracking device somehow got planted on it.

From the corner of her eye, a bright airspeeder caught her attention; the aircraft came flying towards her, dodging the other speeders with such skill that amazed her.

Gritting her teeth, she took out her KYD-21 blaster pistol and shot the droid, which exploded into hot fragments scattered all over the balcony. She then hopped into her speeder and zoomed out of the area as fast as she could, hoping to get away from the scene of the crime and her pursuers.

Little did she know was that Jedi never give up.

* * *

"There's the assassin!" Obi-Wan shouted, pointing at the assassin's _Koro_ -2 all-environment exodrive airspeeder gliding through the air traffic. "Keep on him!"

"I'm on it!" Anakin replied, increasing his speed to catch up with the assassin.

Almost immediately, an arm came out of the speeder's open window, holding a blaster pistol, and squeezed off a series of shots at the two.

Obi-Wan hissed, as he dodged a blaster bolt that got a little too close to his face. Now he remembered the reason why he wasn't a big fan of flying. Or rather Anakin's suicidal version of flying. "You know if you'd spend as much time on your lightsaber skills as you do on your flying, you would rival Master Yoda!"

"I thought I already did." Anakin grinned, as he cut through a series of evasive turns.

"Only in your mind." Obi-Wan remarked.

The chase went on as it originally did in the original timeline. With the two attempting to catch the Clawdite while avoiding the dangers of the Coruscant skylanes, such as the civilians, the train and especially the power couplings (which was something that Obi-Wan didn't miss in the old timeline) The chase continued on through the CoCo Distrcit until the Clawdite disappeared down the passageway that led her to the Uscru District.

The two continued on until Anakin settled them into a hover some fifty stories up from the street of where the assassin is.

"I take it that we lost him." Obi-Wan said, playing his part until Anakin decided to literally _jump_ into action.

Anakin looked sheepish "Well-"

"He went the other way, didn't he?"

"I don't know yet." The way Anakin said that sentence, while he was looking down told Obi-Wan that he found the assassin.

"What are you doing?"

A grin formed on Anakin's face. "If you excuse me for a moment." And with that, his padawan leaped out of his seat and plummeted downwards into the oncoming traffic of Coruscant and landed atop the roof of a familiar speeder that was zooming beneath them.

"I still hate it when he does that," Obi-Wan muttered incredulously, shaking his head. Now he knew which parent Luke got his personality from.

He took the controls and continued the pursuit, following closely behind the assassin, who had begun to open fire on Anakin, who was dangling on one of the twin front forks of the speeder. After a series of manuevers, Anakin managed to get on the roof and activated his lightsaber, plunging inside and slowly started to cut through the roof. However, the assassin fired off a series of shots that took the lightsaber from his hand and Obi-Wan, just like before, caught it in midair.

After a few moments of wrestling with the assassin, Obi-Wan saw the front of the cockpit burst into flames and slowly started to plummet down to the ground of civilians who had begun scattering out of the way in hopes that they wouldn't be splattered all over the pavement. Anakin, like before, went tumbling along the street for a long, long way. When he finally got under control, he saw the assassin leaping from the speeder and running down the street, so he climbed back to his feet and started to follow.

Obi-Wan guided the speeder to a resting place on the side of the street across from the Outlander Club, just in time to see the assassin dart inside the hangout as a dark-purple blur.

When he got out of the speeder, he caught sight of Anakin sprinting towards the club. "Anakin!" he called out, walking over to the young Jedi with his dropped lightsaber in his hand. He handed it to Anakin, who took it in an embarrassed manner.

"She went into that club, Master."

"Patience," Obi-Wan said, placing a hand on Anakin's shoulder, surprising the young man with the casual gesture. The two walked inside the bar and glanced all around. "I'm sure that he didn't get that far."

"I think he's a she," Anakin added, a shrewd look in his eyes, as he scanned the room. "And I think she's a changeling."

"Then be extra careful," Obi-Wan nodded to the crowd ahead of them. "Go and find her." He started to walk over to the opposite way.

"Wait, where are you going?"

Obi-Wan gave a smile. "For a drink," he replied coolly to his bewildered Padawan.

Walking over to the bar, Obi-Wan signaled to the bartender, watching as a glass was placed in front of him and amber liquid poured.

"Wanna buy some death sticks?" came a guttural voice from the side.

Not even looking, Obi-Wan waggled his fingers slightly to the Balosar. "You don't want to sell me death sticks," he said coolly, the weight of the Force in his voice.

"I don't want to sell you death sticks," Elan Sleazebaggano obediently repeated.

"You want to go home and rethink your life."

"I want to go home and rethink my life," And with that, Elan turned and walked away, leaving Obi-Wan to smile to himself. You gotta' love the old Mind trick.

From behind him, he could sense the Clawdite slowly approach him, brandishing her blaster and aimed it from behind. In a single movement, he spun around, lightsaber igniting, in a beautiful and graceful turn with perfect balance and sliced through her elbow, as the would-be assassin shrieked in agony as her arm fell free to the floor and collapsed to the floor.

All the noise in the room seemed to disappear, as all of the bar's patrons turn to face him. Anakin walked over to where Obi-Wan was with a swagger in the way he moved. "Jedi business. Go back to your drinks."

Eerily like the Cantina on Tatooine, they all went back to their drinks like nothing happened, with conversations beginning again. Obi-Wan motioned to Anakin to help him and together, they helped the assassin out to the backalley.

They lowered her gently to the ground, as she growled ferally and winced in agony, all the while glaring at the two Jedi.

"Do you know who it was you were trying to kill?" Obi-Wan asked her.

"The Senator from Naboo." Zam grunted in pain.

"Who hired you?"

She glared at him. "It was a job."

"Tell us!" Anakin demanded.

The bounty hunter chuckled coldly. "The Senator's going to die soon anyway," she said coldly. "It won't end with me. For the price they're offering, there'll be bounty hunters lining up to take the hit. And the next one won't make the same mistake I did."

"Who hired you?" Anakin asked in a dark tone, ignoring the expression of concern that Obi-Wan had.

The clawdite's lips twitched, as she started to answer. "It was a bounty hunter called-"

"LOOK OUT!" Obi-Wan suddenly yelled, pushing Anakin away and pulling the bounty hunter with him just in time for a small object to hit the ground of where Zam's neck was at. Anakin turned around to see a figure perched on a rooftop suddenly lift away into the Coruscant night, disappearing into the clouds.

Zam stared at the place of where Jango was in shock. Her partner just tried to kill her and now he abandons her? She suddenly felt a heavy pain in her heart.

"We're not safe here," Obi-Wan said, staring at the sight of where Jango was. He turned to Anakin. "You head back to the Senator's apartment," he said. "I'll take our friend here back to the Temple for questioning."

Anakin nodded, as he got up and started to walk away from the alley to call for a Hover cab to take him back to Padme's apartment, while Obi-Wan guided Zam around to the club and back to the speeder.

But it was clear to him that Senator Amidala-Padme-remained in grave danger.

* * *

 _ **Sorry if you were disappointed in the chase scene, but I'm not good at writing those types of scenes. Battles, on the other hand, is a different story.**_


	4. New Assignments

_**Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter IV: New Assignments**_

* * *

Anakin stood quietly in the Jedi Council chamber, encircled by the Masters of the Order. Beside him stood Obi-Wan, who had begun to give his report of last night's assassination attempt on Padme's life. He shifted in the place he stood, remembering the frightened look in her eyes when he returned to her apartment. He was just thankful that she got some sleep. On the other hand, he didn't much sleep with another nightmare about his mother. He remembered it vividly, how she cried out for him over the sounds of triumphant and beastly roars of her kidnappers that were shrouded in the shadows and dust of his homeworld.

He shivered involuntary. He didn't care how or when, he's going to find a way to get back to Tatooine to help his mother no matter the cost. And no one is getting in his way.

"Her name is Zam Wesell," Obi-Wan's voice brought him out of his dark thoughts. "She is a shapeshifting Clawdite bounty hunter from the planet Zolan. She was trained in the ways of the Mabari warriors on her homeworld before she was labeled a heretic and fled to the commercial center on Denon, taking a job in personal security disguised in the form of a Human woman. Over time, she moved up through the ranks by honing her skills, gathering equipment, gathering finances and making valuable contacts which altogether allowed her to begin a career in bounty hunting.

"Her partner was the one who tried to assassinate her. He is a Mandalorian bounty hunter who goes by the name of Jango Fett." Several of the Council members shifted in the seats, as the mention of the fierce race of Mandalorians caught their attention. "She first encountered Fett during his search for the Bando Gora outlaw leader..." Obi-Wan hesitated, before continuing. "The leader of the Bando Gora was Komari Vosa."

The chamber exploded into noises. "Impossible," Jedi Master Oppo Rancissis, a respected tactician in the Clone Wars before his death during the Siege of Saleucami at the hands of the Dark Jedi Sora Bulq, snapped from his seat, his coils shifting slightly beneath him. "Both Komari Vosa and her task force went missing during their mission to Baltizaar over 10 years ago. Not long before the Trade Federation's invasion of Naboo."

At the mention of the Naboo crisis, Mace Windu and Yoda both exchanged a grim look. The Dark Side was growing more and more powerful with each passing day.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "I sensed no kind of deception from her. After Fett eliminated the Bando Gora, the two developed a partnership and took various contracts of the past decade. However, a few days ago, Fett was contacted by a man by the name of Tyranus, who contracted Jango to eliminate Senator Amidala for reasons unknown. In turn, Fett subcontracted the bounty to Wesell, who was behind the attack of the docking platform and the attempt on the Senator's life last night."

Obi-Wan finished his report and waited to see how the Council will respond to this new update. After several minutes of murmuring to one another, the chamber went silent and the two Jedi waited to see who would break the silence.

As always, Yoda was the being who always spoke first. "Track down this Jango Fett, you must, Obi-Wan." his gruff declaration echoed throughout the chamber.

"Most importantly," Windu added. "Find out who this Tyranus character is."

"And what about Senator Amidala?" he asked.

"Handle that, your Padawan will."

Anakin tried his best not to grin, though the corners of his mouth slightly quirked up for a brief instant.

"Anakin," Mace Windu said. "You will escort Senator Amidala back to Naboo, but you will not use registered transport. Travel as refugees."

Anakin was about to open his mouth to add his opinion about Padme's stubbornest to leave the capital, when Obi-Wan interjected into the conversation. "Excuse me for interrupting, Masters, but might I have suggest another idea?" he asked politely, his face rivaling that of a collected diplomat.

Several eyebrows were raised by certain members of the Council, but Yoda nodded anyway. "Very well, continue you may."

Obi-Wan nodded. "Thank you, master. While I am not one to question the decisions of the Council, I think the decision of sending Senator Amidala back to her planet is not a good idea." he said, earning frowns several Council members.

Ki-Adi-Mundi, one of the few who didn't frown, raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" he mused. "Could you elaborate on that idea for us?"

"Well, the complaint that I have with this plan is that if we were to send Senator Amidala back to Naboo, whoever this Jango Fett is may already be there and is awaiting for the Senator and whoever is accompanying her to arrive. And once he eliminates the bodyguard, he will kill the Senator and bring her body to whoever hired him." Obi-Wan explained. "Or maybe someone else. We all know that no matter that whether a planet is aligned with the Republic, there's bound to some who are loyal to the Separatist cause and may try to kill the Senator. Whether it'll be silently, like the attempt in the Senator's apartment, or publicly like a bombing or shooting. There may even be some Separatists sympathizers within the Naboo government that would be willing to give up her life just for their protection or some other reward of wealth or power."

Silence fell on the room. The Council was all gazing at Obi-Wan intensely, making the Jedi Master feel an incredibly heavy weight placed on shoulders, though he had to restrain himself from smiling as he noticed Anakin gaping, wide-mouthed, at his master.

"You do bring up some valuable points, Obi-Wan," said Shaak Ti, smiling at her old friend. "But if we were to choose another planet to send the Senator, then which planet should we send her too?"

His response, that he thought up off since the moment he stepped into the room, was immediate. "Tatooine." he said, trying to ignore the wide-eyed look he'd received from Anakin.

More eyebrows were raised. "If I recall, Master Kenobi," Coleman Trebor, the original Jedi diplomat before Obi-Wan took his title in the Clone Wars, spoke up. "Weren't you and Qui-Gon discovered on Tatooine during the Naboo Crisis?"

"True," he replied with a tone that rivaled that of Trebor's. "But the reason we were discovered was because that the Trade Federation had a Sith Lord on their side. That and he didn't reveal where we were to the Trade Federation, as in the _good_ Viceroy's trial, he mentioned that when he asked Darth Maul for what planet that the Queen was on, he was nearly strangled to death by the Zabrak."

Again, the room was silent. The Council was gazing at him intently with stares of surprise at the reasoning behind Obi-Wan's decision. However, it all came down to Yoda, whose sigh echoed throughout the small chamber.

"Grant your request, the Council does." His voice, soft and gravely, ended any further objections to his decision. "To Tatooine, your apprentice and the Senator will go."

Obi-Wan bowed in respect to the wizened Master and the others with Anakin following the same procedure a few seconds later when it registered in his mind. And the two left the chamber and the Council in silence.

* * *

Once the two stepped into the elevator, Anakin whirled around to face his master. "Master," he started off, the shock obvious in his tone. "Why did you-"

"Because it was the only way to settle your nightmares," Obi-Wan interrupted Anakin. "I knew that if you continued to have these spasms, they were only grow worse and worse until it, eventually, will come true."

Anakin blinked in astonishment. While he was used to listening to Obi-Wan's reasoning for his decisions, it was the look in his eyes that threw him off-guard. His eyes had gone from calm and collected to that of shame and regret, as if he was remembering a great tragedy that occurred sometime ago.

"But... why?"

Obi-Wan's eyes softened and a small smile formed under his beard. "Anakin," he said. "While I have been hard on you in the past, the reason I'm doing this is because I care about you. You have become a great Jedi and if these dreams of yours are possible visions to the future, then you must go to the source of these dreams and confront it. But you must not give in to the Dark Side, because what you find may not be what you seek."

Anakin nodded slowly, taking in Obi-Wan's advice with great interest. "Thank you, Master." he smiled at the auburn-hair Jedi before his smile disappeared. 'Well, I suppose I should go and tell Chancellor Palpatine about the Council's decision."

Obi-Wan's eyes widened for a brief second, before it lowered back into a emotionless face. "Let me worry about the Chancellor," he said in his best assuring voice. "For now, just worry about Senator Amidala and try to find a transport that you can fly to Tatooine."

"Yes, master."

"Oh, and try to tell the Senator that she can't take every dress from her wardrobe with her."

Anakin laughed.

* * *

Standing outside the door of the Supreme Chancellor's office, Obi-Wan tried his best not to recoil in disgust or shiver in fear of the sheer darkness that radiated from the room beyond him. To this day, he is still astounded of how the Jedi, even members who are strong in the Force as Windu or Yoda, couldn't sense the malice that radiated from the _kind_ and _grandfatherly_ figure that was Sheev Palpatine.

But to Obi-Wan, he would forever remain as Darth Sidious, the Dark Lord of the Sith and the cause of the deaths of millions of innocent beings in the Clone Wars.

A war he couldn't prevent from happening.

A pang of guilt ran through his heart. To be burdened with the knowledge of the catastrophic damage that the war will cause to the Republic and all the Jedi who either fell in battle, killed by clones during Order 66, or pledged their allegiance to become one of Dooku's acolytes or one of Palpatine's Inquisitors during the Dark Times made him suddenly feel tired and weary. Like he wants to lay down and rest for a long, _long_ time.

 _No,_ he thought firmly. _I will not succumb to these thoughts. I will stop Sidious and save Anakin from the path of the Dark._

Suddenly, the door opened, snapping Obi-Wan out of his thoughts as his eyes met the cold blue eyes of Vice Chair Mas Amedda who towered over Kenobi, making the Jedi Master feel like an ant despite how powerful he was.

"The chancellor will see you now, Master Jedi." he said coolly, as he stepped aside to let the Jedi Master in, although Kenobi felt a sense of mocking in the Changrian's tone.

Stepping into the office of the Supreme Chancellor, he fought the urge to whip out his lightsaber and immediately leaped towards the figure standing at the window overlooking the ecumenopolis planet that he and his possible masters beforehand had tainted with their shroud of darkness that has plagued the galaxy since the creation of their damnable order over several millenniums ago.

"Ah, Anakin," Darth Sidious said, his tone rivaling that of a kindly uncle, as he slowly turned to face Obi-Wan. "I've been expecting y-" he suddenly cut himself off as he stared into the blue-grey eyes of the secret time traveler before him.

"Greetings Supreme Chancellor," Obi-Wan said, bowing respectfully, if he could call it that, to the Sith Master staring at him in surprise and shock. It would seem that he was not expecting his arrival and for a brief moment, he caught the Dark Lord's cold glance at the Changrian who shifted silently behind him.

"You needn't bow in my presence, Master Kenobi," Sidious said, raising his hand in a motion for the Jedi Master to rise, though Kenobi knows he would relish in pleasure at other beings bowing at his will.

It sickened him immensely.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Chancellor, but I've been ordered by the council to inform you of the recent developments in the mystery surrounding the attempted assassination of Senator Amidala," Obi-Wan said politely. "We have captured a Clawdite who nearly assassinated Senator Amidala in her apartment last night and brought her to the temple last night and have learned some information about the ones who hired the bounty hunters."

Palpatine raised an eyebrow, noting the plural. "Hunters?" he echoed. "I thought that the one behind the attempt on the landing dock was the only one."

Obi-Wan shook his head grimly. "Unfortunately, no. The one that we have captured is a Clawdite Mabari Warrior by the name of Zam Wessel and is the partner Jango Fett, a Mandalorian Bounty Hunter."

"Jango Fett?" Palpatine echoed. "I've never heard of a man with that name."

"Neither have we. But we have reason to believe that he was behind the elimination of the Bando Gora," Obi-Wan repressed a smirk as he watched Palpatine try to stifle an unexpected twitch.

"Now that is a name that I have heard of," Palpatine remarked dryly. "The Bando Gora were nothing more but a bunch of uncivilized brutes who did nothing more but slaughter innocents on several backwater worlds in the Outer Rim. I'm not surprised that the Jedi Knights didn't acknowledge their activities until it was too late."

Obi-Wan frowned, his eyes growing cold at the _man_ before him. "Funny," he replied, equally as cold. "I was just thinking the same about the Galactic Senate."

Palpatine's attitude grew equally as cold as Kenobi's. For the next several moments, neither one said a word and their eyes never left the other. To any outside observer, it would look like a battle of wills to see who would break under the atmospheric tension. The Republic's grand leader or one of its renowned guardians.

But to Kenobi alone, it was him against the very embodiment of darkness.

"I assume that there is more to this rather than learning the identity of the attacker." Palpatine said, breaking the silence between the two and allowing Mas Amedda to finally breath in relief.

"You are correct. The Council has decided that my padawan will escort the Senator back to her homeworld, while I conduct an investigation to determine the whereabouts of this Jango Fett."

Palpatine nodded. "I see," he said softly. "Well, it is a good thing that Anakin is looking after Senator Amidala. Between you and me, Master Jedi, I personally see him becoming one of the greatest Jedi of all time. One that could exceed such greats as Masters Windu & Yoda. Though this would make him quite a threat against both his enemies and even to some of his allies."

Obi-Wan didn't miss the subtleness in the Sith Lord's tone and he suppressed the urge to slug the man in front of him. Instead he kept his cool and simply said, "In the eyes of some people, Chancellor. But to me, he is a good man who is loyal to his friends and to his Republic and he is certainly not one to give in to such temptations no matter how demanding or slippery the person is."

Ignoring the shocked face of the Changrian and the slightly angered look on the Chancellor's face, he bowed respectfully and made his way out of the room to put himself as far away from the darkness as fast as he could. Though before the doors behind him closed, he heard Palpatine whisper in a tone as cold as the vacuum of space that sent chills down his very spine.

 _ **"We shall see."**_

* * *

 **So, it's been awhile and I apologize on my part. The reason why I haven't been updating is mostly because of a mixture of laziness for the first half and extreme work for school exams for the other. I'm not promising anything, but I'm sure that I'll update more chapters sooner than the amount of time it took to release this chapter.**

 **Also I have entered my story onto a website called for a contest for you to submit your own story and see what others think of it. I highly recommend it to those who wish to enter and I only that you support my story on there as well.**

 **I look foward to your responses and have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year! That and I hope you enjoy The Force Awakens as well as I did.**


	5. Departures and Information

In the memory of Alethea McGrath

* * *

 ** _Return_ _of_ **_**the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter V:**_

 _ **Departures and Information**_

* * *

The industrial sector of Coruscant held perhaps the greatest freight docks from the Deep Core to the farthest star system in the Outer Rim Territories. Everyday, people from the youngest of children to the oldest of elders would watch as hundreds, if not thousands, of lines consisted of bulky transports coming in continually, huge floating cranes ready to meet them and unload the millions of tons of supplies necessary to keep alive the city-planet, which long ago had become too populous to support itself through its own resources. The efficiency of these docks was nothing short of amazing in the eyes of greedy business men and crime lords who profited off these spaceports to further their own ambitions and goals, and yet it was sometimes gridlocked by the sheer number of docking ships and floating cranes.

This was also a place for living passengers, the peasantry of Coruscant, catching cheap rides on freighters outbound, thousands and thousands of people looking to escape the sheer frenzy that had become of this world since the outbreak of the Separatist Crisis to have a fresh start and begin their new lives under the speeches and words of the Count from Serenno and the industrialization of planets by the Trade Federation and its allies of commerce.

Blended into that throng, Obi-Wan stood with Captain Typho and the handmaiden Dorme near the shuttle exit that proceeded to the dock and walkway that would take them to one of the gigantic transports that was scheduled to make a quick stop at Naboo. They were, of course, just waiting for the ones who would be riding that transport to arrive.

"They're taking too long," Typho growled, his one eye scanning the areas around the trio in a defensive manner, ready to spring into action at any given point. "They should have been here by now."

"Peace, captain," Dorme spoke up, her soft, melodious voice sending waves of soothing calm to the tense man. "It may be that they were delayed in traffic."

"She's right," Obi-Wan added his say into the conversation. "Not even the greatest of Jedi have been able to find a source of weakness to this _terrible_ disease that plagues the planet."

His quip worked as he heard Dorme giggle quietly and he even saw Typho crack a small smile only for it fall back into a small frown as he grumbled out, "They're here."

Those words made the two sober up immediately as their eyes instantly fell on the two approaching figures dressed in brown tunics and breeches, the garb of refugees heading for the Outer Rim. They walked side by side in a crisp and orderly fashion with their eyes never once glancing at each other as they approached the group standing by the shuttle exit.

Obi-Wan couldn't help but to admire the calm, cool facade of the decoys of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala. In fact, the two almost looked exactly like the future couple except for the male's eyes being green instead of blue and he could make out the faint streaks of red-gold hair underneath the female's hood. Other than that, the two was nearly perfect.

"Be safe, M'Lady." Typho said with actual concern towards Dane, the name of Padme's decoy if he recalled, who nodded in return to Typho before looking over Dorme and gave her a small hug with the senior Handmaiden whispering comforting words to the younger one to encourage her.

Obi-Wan pulled Rhys Dallows, the fake Anakin, aside to speak alone. "Anakin," he said, recalling the conversation he had with his padawan before he left in the original timeline. "Don't do anything brash without consulting with either myself or the Council first. Understood?"

"Yes, Master." Rhys replied with a voice that was a bit deeper than Anakin's, but still kept the facade intact. The two then walked over to where Dane and the group stood.

"I will get to the bottom of this plot quickly, M'Lady." Obi-Wan said, bowing to the Handmaiden, who looked flustered at the gesture. "You'll be back here in no time."

"Thank you, Master Kenobi," she replied back softly. "I am most grateful to the Jedi Order for their assistance."

 _"Last call for all refugees heading for Naboo."_ The speaker overhead boomed loudly, making anyone in the vicinity wince at the volume.

"Time to go." Rhys said, reaching over and grabbing Dane's hand, making the young woman blush like a schoolgirl, though Obi-Wan could make out the faint blush beginning to grow on Rhys face and held back a smirk.

Several minutes had passed before a low rumbling began to grow as the _Jendirian Valley_ slowly began to rise in the air and began to ascend into the atmosphere before disappearing from the trio's eyesight.

"Are you sure that no one knows about this?" Typho asked Obi-Wan, who nodded in response.

"Yes," he said, his eyes scanning the area around him for any sign of Sidious's followers. "Only the Jedi and you two know about it."

"Not even the Chancellor?" Dorme asked incredulously, catching Typho's lone eye for a brief second.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No," he said, walking towards his parked speeder. "We can't risk it in the event of someone within Palpatine's circle or any of the higher officials of the Republic leaking this information out to the Separatists. Even the chancellor can't be trusted."

Typho stared at the Jedi Master in disbelief. "But that's absurd!" he snapped, before cursing slightly to himself for his loud volume that had attracted the eyes of a few patrons. "Even if he is somehow linked in the involvement of Count Dooku's separatist movement, the chancellor is a loyal citizen of Naboo. He wouldn't risk the life of one of his closest and most trusted friends. Hell, if it wasn't for her vote of no confidence in Valorum, he wouldn't be where he is today."

"I understand your concerns," he said, flipping several switches that slowly made the speeder rise slightly. "But remember, in these times, nothing is as it appears to be."

And with that cryptic warning, Obi-Wan left the spaceport towards his new destination, leaving two people standing alone in the spot with their thoughts wrapped around the human from Stewjon. Nothing is as it appears to be? Something big was going and when it is revealed, they knew that whatever it was, it would rock this galaxy to its core.

* * *

On the other side of the planet, Padme Amidala's nose wrinkled at the smell of gaseous fumes and her ears winced at the yells and curses of several burly workers in the worker docks of the ecumenopolis planet. When Anakin had suggested that they used an alternate form of transportation in secrecy, she had expected them to use a non-suspicious looking shuttle or a cargo/passenger carrier. Hell, she even thought they would have used a yacht to get to Tatooine. Not whatever this... _thing_ exactly was.

And despite her usual cool composure, she couldn't help but blurt out the words that had formed in her head. "What a piece of junk!"

Both Anakin and the dealer turned to look at her with different reactions. Anakin had a look of humor in his eyes as she could tell that he was struggling to hold back his laughter, despite a few snickers escaping from his throat.

The dealer, a rather shifty-looking Devaronian in his mid 20's with green skin and crimson red eyes, instantly gained a look of anger on his face with the offensive words uttered by this girl. "A piece of junk?!" he snapped at the human, who calmly raised an eyebrow at him. "I'll have you know that these _G9 Rigger-class light freighters_ can still pack the punch in them that many others can't and can make the Kessel Run within 14-16 parsecs." he finished with a smug look on his face, turning to look at the rusty old freighter with pride in his eyes.

"From what I've heard, that YT-1300 light freighter that the Republic Group's got can make it in less than twelve parsecs." Anakin smirked. Now it was Padme who tried to hold back her laughter.

"Screw them!" he all but shrieked in a fit of rage. "You want to bug those show-off bastards for that _fancy_ ship of theirs, then go right ahead." He then took several deep breaths, calming himself down and gave the two a feral smirk. "That is if you can pay them the right amount of credits."

Padme's eyebrow cocked once more. "How much would it be?"

"Forty-thousand Republic Credits."

Anakin whistled. That's was a lot of money that would be wasted on a transport that they would be using for just a couple of days. Not to mention that this freighter, the _Twilight,_ if he remembered correctly, was worth at least a fifth of that amount. Not only that, but they were looking for a ship that would blend in nicely with the rough and criminal-like environment of the desert world. It would be oddly suspicious as to why a ship belonging to a well-known group of loyalists and may alert any potential rebels to their presence in hostile space.

But most importantly, they didn't have much time to debate with his mother's life on the line.

Stepping forward with a bag that contained more than enough of the credits needed to purchase the freighter in his hand, he waved it in front of the Devaronian's face and spoke softly. "I believe this will be enough to pay for the ship and any supplies needed."

With a sneer, the Devaronian took the bag and blinked in surprise at just how heavy the small bag felt. He looked up with an eyebrow raised. "How much is in here." he asked in the form of a growl.

"Ten thousand." he replied nonchalantly, ignoring Padme gawking at him from the side.

The Devaronian blinked in astonishment, before he gave the young man a sly smile, the kind he'd seen politicians give over his years of serving his duty to the Republic. "Much appreciated," he purred, staring at the bag like it was like some sort of ancient relic. "It was a pleasure doing business with you. Remember, no one does business best here on Coruscant like Cikatro Vizago."

With those words, Vizago walked off while shouting orders at his droids to stock the freighter with supplies as he left the building to either invest his recent profits or to out on a night on the town. He believed the latter was more believable than the former. When Anakin turned around, he found himself face-to-face with a very angry senator. "What?" he asked innocently.

"Don't you 'what' me, buster!" Padme shouted, attracting the attention of several workers. "You just spent ten thousand credits on a piece of junk ship that will probably not even make it past the first skyscraper of this planet. And even if it does, what's stopping it from blowing up in space on and allowing our bodies to be sucked out in the cold vacuum of space."

"Actually, our bodies would most likely be disintegrated by the explosion." Anakin stated in a dry manner of voice.

But Padme continued on. "Not only that, but we now own half of the credits that was given to use on our mission and the supplies we need for this ship will most likely take nearly away 90% of those profits and that won't be enough to pay for information for the where-a-bouts of your mother and-" she was immediately silenced when Anakin raised his hand up in a placating gesture, similar to how Obi-Wan used to do him back when he was younger and more wide-eyed open to the galaxy.

"That may be so," Anakin said calmly. "But if you don't remember, the currency in the Outer Rim territories controlled by the Hutts is different from the standard Galactic Credit within the Core and Inner Rim. They accept peggats, remember?"

Padme blinked owlishly before blushing in embarrassment. A faint memory in the back of her mind appeared as she directly remembered the frustration in Master Qui-Gon's voice as he expressed why exactly they couldn't purchase the T-14 hyperdrive generator. "Oh." she simply said.

Anakin grinned at her disconcerted posture. "Not to worry," he chuckled. "Now let's go check out those supplies these dealers are giving us. I'd rather not dine on expired food for our trip."

Padme chuckled as well. "Agreed."

* * *

If there was one word that the residents of Coruscant could use to describe Coco Town, it would be crowded.

That word was the first thing to pop into Obi-Wan's head as he settled his speeder down to the nearest parking lot and made his way towards the crowded streets. He still couldn't help but feel anxious by being surrounded around the various kinds of species ranging from Dugs to Rodians, Sullustans to Aqualishs and so forth. At one point, he could have sworn that he saw a Wookiee waving its prosthetic arm at a shady-looking Devaronian, roaring with anger at the green-skinned being who scrambled his way to the nearest air-taxi.

In the end, it didn't matter as he finally reached his destination in the form of a small building with foggy windows, metallic walls with the slightest hint of rust beginning to form, and painted from a midnight black to a very bright red that had slowly start to fade. In the middle of it all was a very neon-bright sign in Aurebesh that gave people the name of the place, though it was one that Obi-Wan knew all too well.

Dex's Diner.

He smiled fondly before entering.

The diner was pretty much the same as it was in the original timeline. Booths set against the walls and many small freestanding circular tables surrounded by tall stools. There was also a counter area that was partly lined with stools with some of them empty and others occupied by freighter drivers and dockworkers. He crinkled his nose upwards at the horrid smell that was coming from a Trandoshan with ripped muscles and drool leaking from his mouth as he devoured the enormous pile of meat on his plate.

Moving away quickly, Obi-Wan sat down in one of the small tables, shifting on the spot as he tried to adjust his position on the cushy seat, when a waitress droid came up to him with a notepad in her... he honestly didn't know how to describe the things that should be her hands. Claws maybe?

"Can I help ya?" the droid asked.

Obi-Wan smiled. "I'm looking for Dexter."

The waitress droid seemed to stare off into space, though from his position, Obi-Wan could make out the faint lights of a scanner bleeping for any sign of suspicious looking people in the diner or outside. To be fair, he really doesn't fit the description of any normal customers who usually stop by here around this time of day.

"Waddya want him for?"

The Jedi raised his hand in a placating manner to reassure the droid. "He's not in any kind of trouble," he continued to give that charming smile that he picked up from his tutelage under Qui-Gon's wing. "It's a personal matter of the sort."

After a moment of hesitation, the waitress slowly made her way over to the open serving hatch behind the counter. "Someone to see ya, honey," she said, before lowering her voice at the next bit. "A Jedi, by the looks of him."

A moment had passed before a huge form poke through the open hatchway with tense shoulders and an intimidating scowl as a line of hot greyish steam accompanying him. To the known galaxy, many people can identify it as a Besalisk, a race of multi-armed sentient humanoids from the cold ocean world of Ojom.

But to the people of Coco Town and Obi-Wan, he was Dexter Jettster.

The Besalisk's beady-looking eyes scanned the inside of the restaurant for the supposed Jedi, before a wide smile with huge block teeth suddenly formed on his face as his gaze fell upon the auburn-haired time traveller. "Well, waddya know?" Dexter chuckled loudly. "If it isn't Obi-Wan Kenobi!"

A few eyes of the people on the stools turned to looked at him, their wariness easily noticeable with their presence in the Force, but Kenobi ignored them with a smirk at Dexter. "Hello, Dex."

The diner owner gave a smirk right back at him. "Stay right there, I'll be right with ya!"

A few minutes later, the beefy alien emerged from the counter door, walking with a stiff gant. He noticed the glances of respect sent towards Dex as he walked over to Obi-Wan. Whether it was for the reputation he's build during his time on Coruscant or for his bravery for walking towards the Jedi unarmed, Kenobi didn't know. But judging from the size of his muscles, life as a diner owner hasn't weakened the Besalisk in the slightest.

With a slight grunt, he managed to squeeze his way into the booth and smiled at the Jedi Master. "So, old friend, what can I do for ya?" Dexter asked.

Pulling out the saberdart from his belt, he placed it on the table and spoke softly so that no one could overhear. "I was wondering if you can tell me what this is." He watched as Dex picked up the dart with a curious look in his eyes before they widened as he regarded the item that brought a sense of nostalgia back to the ex-smuggler.

"Well, waddya know," Dex repeated the same phrase that Obi-Wan's heard for the third time today. "I haven't seen one of these since I was prospecting on Subterrel beyond the Outer Rim."

Despite knowing the answer, Obi-Wan still asked, "Do you know where it came from?"

The Besalisk nodded, still caught up with memories of the past. "Yea'. It belongs to those cloners. What you got here is a Kamino Saberdart."

"So why didn't it show up in the Order's analysis archive?"

The Besalisk frowned, the trip down memory lane now over by the look in his eyes. "Well, if memory serves, it's beyond the Outer Rim. I'd say it's about twelve parsecs outside the Rishi Maze, towards the south. It should be easy to find, even for those droids in your archive. Though from what I've heard, those Kaminoans mostly keep to themselves. They're cloners. Damn good ones, too, I might add."

 _You have no idea,_ he thought with both a mixture of fondness and bitterness as he remembered all the times of how the clones fought alongside with the Jedi and helped save their behinds on many occasions... and was also responsible for their downfall and eliminated over thousands of the Order's members in one night. _Y_ _et another event that I_ **will** _stop from happening._

"Although, " he was brought out of his thoughts by Dex musing to himself. "It depends on a few certain things if you want to get on their friendly side."

Holding back a smile. Obi-Wan asked, "Oh? And what exactly would that be?"

"On how good your manners are," he then paused before leaning forward with a greedy grin on his large, meaty face. "And how big your pocketbook is."

Obi-Wan couldn't help but laugh. Oh, how he missed Dex.

* * *

 **Well, another chapter done and more to come. Admittedly, a small part of me believes that this is just a chapter dedicated to filler, but Obi-Wan does need a reason for knowing about Kamino rather than just going to the Jedi Archives and engage in awkward conversation with Jocasta Nu about why he would want to know aboutbsome random backwater planet.**

 **Either way, I hope you've all enjoyed this chapter because next chapter, we're going straight to Kamino and meet some familiar faces.**

 **Also, since this month will be the release of one of the biggest movies in 2016 I have to ask the over-asked question since the day that the movie was announced: Team Batman or Team Superman. Personally, I'm a supporter of the Batfleck and my inner fanboy glee has only increased since I saw him pull off moves from the Arkham games, a point that Snyder has already gained from Nolan's Batman style of fighting.**

 **See you guys next chapter.**


	6. Arrival

_**Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter VI:**_

 _ **Arrival**_

* * *

When the inhabitants of the Jedi Temple is asked by random outsiders of what is the largest room in their palace on Coruscant, their immediate reply is the hall of the Jedi Archives. The Archives is a fathomless collection of ancient knowledge and research dating back thousands of standard years ago and as a repository for journals and artifacts that is all overseen by the Council of First Knowledge. Lighted computer panels stretched out in long lines of bluish dots along the walls, running so far that a person viewing them from one end of the room would see them converging at the other end. And scattered throughout were the group of sculpted busts that were done in bronze by many of the finest artisans that the Order could afford.

As he did in the previous timeline, Obi-Wan stood at the latest addition to this collection, staring at it with a blank, unreadable expression that had many of the padawans who saw him whisper amongst themselves of what exactly the auburn-haired Jedi Master was thinking of. Some thought it was because he was entranced by the life-like appearance of the bust that stared back him while others stated that perhaps he was thinking about his old master, the late Qui-Gon Jinn, a maverick among the Order whose name stretched out to the farthest regions of the Outer Rim that told stories of both his and Obi-Wan's adventures together before the tragic mission to Naboo.

Little does anyone know that Obi-Wan's thoughts are much, much farther than what they believed to be. Instead, he stared deep into Dooku's bust, pondering on why would he, one of the most respected members of the Order, would join someone like Sidious and instigate this entire crisis and the war that is soon to follow just within four days. He closed his eyes in a grim-like state. It still astonished him just how slow time moved ever since his travel to the past just in while in the original timeline, time seemed to move faster than one would think.

"Excuse me," a soft voice, one that displayed the being's old age, spoke next to him. "Master Kenobi? Master Kenobi, can you hear me?"

Blinking rapidly, Obi-Wan turned his head to the right and looked down to meet the ice-blue eyes of Jocasta Nu, the 82-year-old Chief Librarian of the Jedi Archives, staring at him in concern for the auburn-haired man's statue-like state. Behind her stood a scowling Miraluka, who looked to be in his forties, staring at the Jedi Master in annoyance as if he was wasting their time and that they should move on and leave him to whatever little fantasies that plagued his mind. And behind the Miraluka stood an eleven year old youngling who was shifting awkwardly and trying to avoid the time traveler's eyes.

Ignoring the look he got from the Miraluka, Obi-Wan gave the worried librarian a gentle smile to ease her worries. "Yes, I'm all right. I'm sorry if I worried any of you, I was just thinking."

"Oh yes, it's quite all right." The Miraluka said sardonically, ignoring Jocasta's look. "While you're at it, why don't you spend the next few hours watching the Temple Workers re-build our starfighters that your padawan destroys every other week."

"That's enough, Jerec." Jocasta stated sternly, a look of disapproval in her eyes. "If you hadn't noticed, Initiate Dume is looking for assistance in whatever it is he's looking for."

"Uh, th-that's okay, Madame Jocasta," The boy, who Kenobi now knows only as Dume, stammered nervously in a not so subtle manner to hide his uneasiness around Jerec. "Really. I can find what I'm look-"

Any further attempts of speaking was cut off when Jerec snapped his neck towards the preteen in an irritated gesture. "Come along, boy," he growled under his breath, ignoring the looks he received from both Obi-Wan and Jocasta, and stalked off with Dume, who sent a pleading look towards the two elders that was returned with a sympathetic smile from both.

"I apologize for Jerec's attitude." The elder Jedi sighed, sounding tired. "He's been like this ever since the Council prohibited him from joining the archarologist team to the Unknown Regions. Hopefully, he'll meditate and release all of his frustration out."

"Hopefully." Obi-Wan muttered in response, his eyes on the back of Jerec's retreating form. The way that he acted reminded him eerily of how Anakin used to act in the last few months of the war after Ahsoka's leaving and him being away from Padme for so long during the Outer Rim Sieges. Shaking his head to rid himself of those thoughts, he turned back to the librarian and spoke. "Forgive me for interrupting you, Madame Jocasta, but I've come here looking for assistance in trying to locate a planet called Kamino. Despite my best efforts, however, it won't show up on any of the archive charts."

"Kamino," Jocasta frowned, trying to recall the name. "Well, that's a name that I'm not familiar with. Let me check."

A few minutes later after looking up the exact quadrant that Obi-Wan received from Dex, to which Jocasta once again questioned of where he found this information, she sat back in her chair and rubbed her right hand over her chin. "I'm afraid to say that there's no planet nor system with that name."

"I see." Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard with his thumb and index finger, a habit that he had picked up during the war and had only increased during his years on Tatooine. "Nevertheless, thank you for your assistance, Madame Jocasta."

"Of course, Master Kenobi." Jocasta smiled gently, rising up from the chair and noticed a youngling approaching her. "I apologize for not being able to assist you any further, but should you need anything else in the late future, the archives are always open."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

With that being said, Jocasta smiled before turning her full attention to the youngling and walking with him to assist in whatever predicament he was in. Obi-Wan sighed as he stared down at the map with weary eyes. He knew where Kamino was, but he didn't want to alert any members of the Order with him just disappearing randomly before popping back up with information on both a secret clone army and a secret droid army that was to fight each other for control of the galaxy.

He let out a sigh of annoyance. This seemed much more easier when he was planning his actions out.

* * *

Throughout her life, Padme was used to travelling in many luxurious vessels in her years serving as Naboo's former Queen and her current position of Senator. On such vessels, she dined upon food that most low-class families could afford if they saved all of their credits for possibly an entire year or two and drank wine that, while many highly-esteemed Senators and Planet Representatives could down while chatting endlessly, she wasn't very fond of, yet still drank regardless.

However, this was a rather odd way of transportation.

"Well, I suppose that dinner is served." Anakin said with a grin, handing her a bowl of some bland-looking mush with some pieces of Fried Endorian chicken on the side and a glass of blue milk that smelled rather odd. She looked over at Anakin's meal and cocked her head to the side at the sight of it. It was some kind of meat sandwich with chips and a glass of blue milk that had the same smell that came from her own glass.

Looking at the grey mush in front of her with a blank face, she tentatively picked up her spoon and dipped it slowly into the mush and scooped it back up and stared at it. Upon closer inspection, it looked much more disgusting than it appeared to be. And then, she did something that she thought the she'd never do in her entire life of luxury and politics.

She opened her mouth and ate the mush.

Not even a microsecond had passed and the reaction was very natural. The moment the vile taste of the mush reached her taste-buds, her stomach lurched violently and her throat refused to let the disgusting food go down. So it remained in her mouth, her cheeks puffed out like an Ithorian Blowfish and her entire face turning as red as a Lethan Twi'lek.

Suddenly, she heard a quiet chuckle and looked to see Anakin try, very badly, to keep an amused grin off his face. Glaring at him, she watched as he pulled out a bag that had seemingly been underneath the table all this time and passed it over to her of where she gladly emptied out the contents from her mouth that now left a sour taste in its wake.

Lifting her face from the bag, she blinked in surprise when she saw Anakin eating the same bowl of mush that she had... and was actually _enjoying_ it! She gaped at him in astonishment and looked back down to see the chips that he had with his meal on the same spot of where her bowl used to be. "Why did you-"

"I sensed what you thought about this stuff," he commented, chewing on the grey mush much to Padme's disgust. "And I must say that I'm quite offended. After all, Obi-Wan doesn't complain my cooking that badly."

While a small part of her felt bad about unintentionally insulting her friend's cooking, she couldn't help but crack a small smirk at the Jedi Padawan. "Then my respect for him grows even further."

Anakin shrugged nonchalantly, a small smile tugging at the edges of his lips. "Well, to be perfectly honest, I have to agree." He then got up and walked over to where the small carton of Blue Milk sat, continuing the conversation. "After all, if any master had an apprentice who usually jumped out of burning buildings, gets into fights with all sorts of scum and villainy on missions and crash the Temple's fighters every other week and still continue to teach them, then they would earn pretty much anyone's respect."

While he poured the liquid into his cup, he didn't see Padme's jaw drop in disbelief and her eyes wide in stunned silence. When she heard her captain speak his mind about his disapproval about having Skywalker being her bodyguard due to the... reputation that he has, she didn't think much of it due to her wanting to just spend some time with an old friend from her past. But hearing it now and in the casual manner of how he spoke reminded her of how a regular person would be talking about the weather. Just what kind of shenanigans did Obi-Wan put up with him during the ten year period.

She shivered in fear of how Anakin must have been a hassle for the auburn-haired Jedi during his... growth to manhood.

"And the fact that he was able to put up with my mood swings during puberty is something that still amazes me to this day." Anakin had to restrain himself from bursting out loud at the twitching look of embarrassment on Padme's face and decided that he should stop messing with her. Although, in his defense, it wasn't his fault that she didn't know of how well a Jedi can read any person's thoughts.

"Well," Padme winced at how badly her voice cracked and took a moment to regain the strength back into it. "I say that the two of you have had quite the adventures, haven't you?"

Anakin smiled fondly as the memories of his adventures with Obi-Wan and his various Jedi peers over the past decade since the Invasion of Naboo. Ranging from facing off with a variety of enemies such as slavers, terrorists, bounty hunters, Dark Jedi and even participated in a war on a frozen planet with people using technology that is much more primitive to the galaxy that they know very well, they've seen nearly the whole nine yards and he honestly believe that nothing can surprise him at this point.

However, he didn't say any of this. The only response that Padme got was a simple hum and there was nothing more but silence for the remainder of their small meal.

* * *

A few hours had passed since their meal and Padme laid in the makeshift bed that the Devaronian had scrambled to create when Anakin purchased this piece of junk from the shady dealer, feeling rather tired.

Normally, if one was tired, they would close their eyes and fall into the blissful world of sleep to whatever dreams or nightmares that their head had reserved for them.

But she couldn't.

And the reason she was tired wasn't because of the fatigue of travelling in such conditions. Rather, it was because of the massive rift in the Galactic Senate that was growing more tense with each passing day that only enforces the ideals of a new galactic war not seen for nearly a thousand years. When she had returned to Coruscant, she had planned on helping the Republic Loyalist faction try to find a more peaceful solution to the crisis rather than submit to the war-propaganda cries spewed mostly out of the mouths of both the Gran Senator, Ask Aak, and the governor of both Eriadu and the Seswenna sector, Wilhuff Tarkin.

A small scowl formed at the corner of her lips at the mere thought of the two. To her, they were what was wrong with the Republic. People who claim to be loyal followers of the traditional ways of the Old Republic but are secretly lying, greedy and war-hungry beings who would only see the deaths of innocent people and the destruction of entire cities just for their own personal gains.

She shook her head in sadness. This was one of the reasons why she did not believe that the Senate would assist her people when the Trade Federation invaded her world ten years ago. To this day, she still has nightmares of that horrendous event and what had transpired during the planet's liberation. The dead bodies of the brave men and women who gave their lives for the future survival of their queen and families still fill her with guilt to this day along with the funeral of the late Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn.

A tear began to trickle down her cheek as she remembered the shock and horror that was on everyone's faces as Obi-Wan walked through the durasteel doors that had led to the Theed Generator Complex with the body of Qui-Gon in his arms, tears streaming down his face in waves as he explained in a hoarse voice what had transpired; how the Zabrak led the two inside and separated the two before making Obi-Wan watch as he gutted the man who was like a father to him like an animal. However, the Sith Lord's victory didn't last for long as Obi-Wan avenged the older Jedi by striking the monster down.

But the thing that still makes her heart ache in pain to this day is the heart-broken expression that was Anakin's face when the doors had opened. Hours later, she found the poor boy wailing in anguish at loss of the man who had set him free and knelt down to his height and hugged the former slave with tears in her eyes too. They stayed in that position for what felt like hours until the shuttle carrying the newly-elected Chancellor Palpatine and several high-ranking members of the Jedi Council came to see the aftermath of the battle.

She sighed, her head aching terribly around the temples. This was why she was trying to prevent another Naboo from happening again, so that families can rest easy in beds without having to fret about the fears of having a father or mother not come home to bid their child goodnight or having bombs from starships drop from the skies onto small towns and destroying entire communities of friends and neighbors.

She could only hope to prevent this war before it's too late.

"No!" A sudden cry broke her trail of thought and made her jump at just how loud and raw the scream was. "No! Mom! No, don't!"

Before her mind could process her movements, her legs had already made her body jump out of the cold, metal bed and run towards the origin of the sound. It didn't take even ten seconds before she reached the door of the room that the cries were coming from.

It was Anakin's room.

Opening the door, she ran inside to see Anakin, her friend and supposed protector, thrashing wildly on his bed with thick waves of sweat coating his body, making it glisten thanks to the small computer panel that was glowing in the corner of the room. She knelt beside the Jedi Padawan and held him by the shoulders, surprising pinning him down despite her small frame.

"Anakin! Anakin, wake up!" Her eyes began to tear up when he cried out for his mother like a scared child during a ferocious thunderstorm. "Please, Ani! Wake up!"

Suddenly, as if hearing her desperate cries, his eyes snapped open to reveal his cerulean blue eyes with a look of terror on them. Padme opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off when Anakin latched on to her like a lifeline. It didn't take long for Padme to feel her shoulder become wet with Anakin's tears and she responded by wrapping her arms around him. The left arm went to rub circles on his sweaty back and the right went up to stroke his hair while she whispered comforting words to his ear in an attempt to calm him down.

"It's okay," she heard herself say. "It's okay. I'm here for you, Ani. Nothing's going to harm you."

Several minutes had passed, astounding Padme at how much pent-up emotions had been inside of the young adult because of his poor mother, and Anakin had begun to calm down. He broke free of Padme's release, somewhat saddening her for some odd reason. "I'm sorry." he apologized hoarsely, though it came out more as a harsh rasp, confusing her.

"For what?"

"For... this." he gestured to her sitting in his bed, staring at his eyes that were red like raw meat from his nightmare. "You being here, comforting me. This isn't right." He choked up mid-sentence the effects of the nightmare still evident by the fearful look in his eyes. "I'm a Jedi... I should be better. I know I'm suppose to be better than this. In even in what seems like our darkest hours, we can't show our emotions no matter what."

"Oh, Ani," she whispered softly, placing her hand over his hand and making him shift at the sudden contact which did not go unnoticed by her. "Showing your emotions isn't wrong. Sometimes, it's best for you to release them instead of bottling up inside of you. That's what makes you what you are, even more than a Jedi."

His voice had dropped down so low and fragile that it reminded her of the scared little boy that had left his home ten years ago and it made her heart ache with even more pain. "What?"

Tentatively, she leaned upwards and placed her lips onto Anakin's cool forehead and whispered her response. "Human."

For the rest of the next several minutes, they stayed in that position; Anakin with his head on Padme's shoulders, a slight sniffle or two being heard from him and Padme whispering words of comfort to his ear while trying to stop any tears from rolling down her face as well, though it proved to be futile in the end. And before the two could process it, they began to the sense of drowsiness and began to succumbed to it and it didn't take long for them to fall into a deep sleep, blissful to the events of the galaxy outside their ship.

* * *

Kamino.

To the entire galaxy, save for a few beings at this point, no one knew of its existence. In fact, many didn't even know of the system it resided in. To those who aware, such as spice miners and few smugglers, they would immediately brush the watery world of as the place of where the Kaminoans, who were a race of beings that mainly kept to themselves, inhabited.

However, in the original timeline, this was the home to the future Grand Army of the Republic and where the catalyst of a dastardly plot to undermine everything the Republic has strived to build, thanks to the machinations of a madman, would take place all for the goal of a new galactic power. An Empire.

An Empire secretly ruled by the Order of the Sith Lords from within its shadows.

But, emerging from hyperspace in his red Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor, Obi-Wan Kenobi was determined not to make that future come to life once more.

"There it is," he muttered to himself, staring down at the planet with wary eyes. He could faintly sense Jango's presence and repressed a shiver at the raw anger and rage that it possessed. It wasn't on a level of someone like Palpatine, but he could give Ventress a run for her credits. "Our missing planet. R4, disengage the hyperspace ring."

The old astromech droid complied with a whistle and the starfighter detached from the ring before Obi-Wan guided it down to the planet below them. It didn't take long for him to penetrate through the planet's atmosphere and it especially take long for him to come into contact with the massive storm clouds that is familiar to this world's population and to those who have been here before.

Obi-Wan couldn't help but smile. Spending nearly nineteen years on a barren wasteland with scorching sands and intense heat can make anyone go mad without feeling a drop of rain fall onto their skin.

Breaking through the clouds, he flew over the massive oceans teeming with a variety of deadly sea creatures ranging from small and harmless to large and deadly. And then, after flying across this planet for what felt like several minutes, he saw his point of destination.

Tipoca City. The site of the planet's cloning facility and where its army, along with their template, resided at.

The constant beeping of his astromech brought Obi-Wan out of his thoughts with a question in the language of binary.

"No, R4." the auburn-haired time traveler said with a small smile. "We're going to land on that landing platform."

R4 bleeped in confusion about her master's decision and ask him of how he was going to enter into this supposed top-secret facility that they just found.

And his response? "Simple, I'm going to walk through the front door."

For the 327th time since her master's protege reactivated her, she questioned the logic that these Jedi Knights used to solve their problems but didn't voice it out of obedience that was hardwired into her mainframe.

Still, it didn't stop her from processing the thought.

Landing on the platform with a gentle hiss, he pulled the hood over his head before opening the cockpit window and slid out of the small fighter, taking a moment to relish the rain wash over him with a small smile on his face. However, it was difficult to continue to enjoy the feeling due to the strong winds that threaten to push him off his feet and onto the slippery ground beneath his boots. He began to take steps across the walkway that led to the tower that stood before him. When he reached the end of the walkway, he was not surprised by the door sliding open to reveal a great, bright white light along with the tall, pasty white and amazingly slender being whose race he knew full well of.

"Greetings, Master Jedi," her melodic voice was, surprisingly, easy to hear over the loud, constant pounding of the rain behind him. "It is good to see you. I am Taun We and allow me to be the first to welcome you to Kamino."

"Thank you," he replied with a charming smile that he learned to use in these types of situations over the years. "It's an honor to meet you. I suspect that the Prime Minister is expecting me?"

To his surprise, he didn't even sense any form of shock through the Force from her. Rather, she seemed rather... normal? It's very hard to tell what the emotions of a Kaminoan is. "Indeed, he is. In fact, he's quite anxious to see you. After all, it's been quite a long time since we last saw you and we were beginning to fear that you weren't coming at all."

Ah. So that was the reason. They still think that he's Syfo-Dyas in this timeline as they did in the old one. Obi-Wan simply nodded to Taun We. "I see." he gestured to the corridor that would lead to the Prime Minister. "Shall we?"

"Of course." A small smile formed on the alien's pale lips. "Please, this way."

And without hesitation, Obi-Wan obliged without question and followed the administrative aide to what would lie ahead in this facility and, to what the residents of this facility are unaware of, furthering the secret plan of one certain time traveler's goal to save the future.

* * *

 ***sigh***

 **I am so, so, SO sorry to those who have been waiting for over 5 months for this chapter and I thank you for waiting patiently.**

 **I have been busy over these last few months with the months of March to May being spent trying to get my grades back up and studying for exams. I spent the rest of May and the entire month of June taking naps, relaxing my aching bones and trying to find a job. And I spent July and the first week of August going to Band Camp (twice, in fact) and even went to an Aviation camp. I got to fly a bloody plane while I was there!**

 **And now, I am back in school and Sophomore Year is a lot more easier than Freshman year. Though a small part of me has a theory that the reason behind that could be because I actually remember stuff from the year prior instead of Eight Grade that was mainly spent watching the popular kids in my math class suck-up to the teacher so many times that I nearly smashed my head through the desk I was using.**

 ***sigh* I really don't miss those days.**

 **Also, I apologize if some of you are disappointed by the lack of action in this chapter. The reason I used these certain scenes is to introduce characters that I plan on using later on in the story and try to establish how Anakin and Padme are slowly beginning to fall in love in my version since they won't be on Naboo. So no dinner with the Naberries or infamous lines that I'll be using later on in this story...**

 **Maybe.**

 **Anyways, thanks for the wait and get ready for next chapter! There's gonna be lots of divergent points from here on out for both Obi-Wan and Anakin. The question is "Just how?"**

 **Well, that's only for me to know *cue Palpatine's evil cackle from ROTS***

 **See ya next chapter!**

 **P.S. Also, if anyone's interested in knowing, I give the theatrical version of BvS a D+ and the Ultimate Cut and a C. And if any of you were disappointed by it, I suggest you check out JJ Rust's "Batman V Superman Reimagined" story.**

 **Also, I am excited for the upcoming Rogue One film. *cue Vader's breathing***


	7. Protocols

_In the Memory of Kenny Baker, Carrie Fisher, and John Cygan:_

* * *

 _ **Return of the Jedi:**_

 _ **Chapter VII**_ _ **:**_

 _ **Protocols**_

* * *

The corridors of Tipoca City were as brightly lit as each room that the cloning facility housed, but Obi-Wan soon found his eyes adjusting to it, finding the lights to be strangely comforting to him. Perhaps it was the years of living under two suns on Tatooine that he had simply adjusted to such things, or perhaps something else entirely. He didn't let his thoughts stray too far, however, as his eyes scanned the insides of each room, seeing other Kaminoans working tirelessly by adjusting furniture or manning a console that held some sort of relevance to the facility. Even now, he was stunned at how clean everything was in this place, everything polished and shining and smooth even after walking through the corridors with wet boots, and robes dripping droplets of rainwater onto the polished floor.

Regardless, he stayed silent during the trip to the Prime Minister's office with Taun We leading the way, silent as well. The Kaminoan seemed to be in getting him there, judging by her swift pace, and Kenobi forced himself to stop when the Kaminoan's white boots suddenly came to a halt in front of a massive white door. Taun We keyed in a code of some kind in her native language-that Kenobi didn't even bother to try and decipher-and stepped to the side as the door open up, motioning for the Jedi Master to enter first.

With a polite smile, and a nod of his head, the auburn-haired man complied willingly.

The first thing that caught Obi-Wan's attention was the tall Kaminoan sitting in the middle of the room, sitting patiently in a curved white chair as if he was already expecting the Jedi Master's arrival. _He most likely was,_ Kenobi thought dryly, keeping a cool and collected expression on his face as the Prime Minister studied Obi-Wan's face, blinking his oval wide eyes, and smiled thinly at his guest. Waving his hand, an egg-shaped chair gracefully spiraled down from the ceiling, offering a place for the Jedi to sit.

Obi-Wan watched as Taun We introduce the Prime Minister of Kamino to his newest visitor. "Greetings, your grace," the Jedi said humbly, bowing to the Kaminoan leader before him. "It is an honor to meet you, at last,"

"My many thanks, Master Jedi," said Lama Su warmly. "I trust that you are going to enjoy your stay here with us. We are most pleased that you've come at the best part of the season," Kenobi didn't know if the Prime Minister was making a joke or not, but didn't try to press it any further.

"You make me feel most welcome," the Kaminoan seemed to be quite proud of himself at that statement, much to Obi-Wan's amusement.

After several moments of pleasant talk, Lama Su's face then turned serious, and business-like. "Now then, I hope that you will be quite delighted to hear that we are on schedule. Two hundred thousand units are ready, with another million more on the way."

The Jedi felt an enormous lump grow in his throat that he forced down hardly; memories of the years fighting alongside the clone soldiers on the many fronts of the war came rushing back to him-remembering every victory and defeat, and every soldier lost to the blaster-fire from the cold, emotionless Battle Droids manufactured by the Confederacy. "Ah," he heard himself mumble out through numb lips. "That is... good news."

"We thought you would be pleased," said the Kaminoan, proud of their achievements. "Please tell your Master Sifo-Dyas that we have every confidence his order will be met, on time."

Obi-Wan shook his head sadly, for whatever reason he did not really know, but that didn't stop him from saying. "I'm afraid to say that Master Sifo-Dyas was killed almost ten years ago."

Lama Su blinked in surprise, seemingly hurt by the grim news. "Oh," he whispered. "I see... I'm very sorry to hear that, but I'm sure that he would have been proud of the army we've created for him."

"The army," echoed Kenobi, his eyes glazing slightly. "Yes... this army is meant to serve the Republic, am I correct?"

"That you are, Master Jedi," the Prime Minister replied, looking to have recovered from the shocking news about Sifo-Dyas's grim fate. "You must be anxious to inspect the units for yourself."

Obi-Wan smiled thinly. "That's why I'm here," Obi-Wan answered, somewhat true in his reply; While his real mission was to apprehend Jango before he escaped back to Dooku on Geonosis, his true purpose here was an entirely different story. "Shall we proceed, then?"

"Of course." With that being said, both the Kaminoan and the Jedi Master rose from their seats and left the room without a single word.

* * *

Tatooine was hot, severely hot considering this time of season.

Padme's brow was dripping with sweat as both her and Anakin made their way through the crowded streets of Mos Espa with all sorts of gruff-looking humans and aliens sizing up the two before turning away quickly when the Senator sent them a look that could burn through durasteel itself. She then turned to face Anakin's back, her eyes softening at the sight of his grim, yet determined face. Ever since the two had touched down on the desert planet, the young Jedi hadn't muttered a single word to her, or anyone else around them as he lead her through the streets of Mos Espa, expertly zigging and zagging with years of experience behind him. Padme had no idea where he was leading her, but she didn't question it in fear of being yelled at by the much more intimidating young man.

Suddenly, Anakin came to a halt in front of a shop all too familiar to the former slave. There, sitting on a stool near the door with the stench of cheap alcohol and utter shame rolling off him in waves, was an overweight, winged Toydarian with a long snout and a black round hat placed firmly on his head, and a vest too small for the Toydarian's girth. Though Padme's mind was busy trying to recall what this creature's name was, Anakin knew instantly, years of harsh words and hard labor coming back to the Jedi.

Watto.

 _"Chut chut, Watto,"_ Skywalker greeted curtly.

 _"Ke booda?"_ came the surprised response.

 _"Di nova, chut chut,"_

 _"Go ana bopa!"_

 _"Ding mi chasa hopa,"_ Padme didn't even try to figure out what language the two beings were speaking in. She merely watched as Anakin took a piece of the broken droid from Watto's grubby hands, and instantly went to work on it. The Toydarian's eyes grew wide in surprise as he watched the human go to work, and within a few moments, Anakin sat the broken droid back down. A microsecond passed, and the droid's lone optic then began to glow a bright blue, chirping away in the Binary language.

Watto stared at the droid, dumbfounded, before he slowly raised his gaze to meet Anakin's bright blue eyes. "Annie?" he croaked out. "Little Annie?"

His answer was given to him with a small smile from the towering human, making a wide grin grow on Watto's disheveled face. "You _are_ Annie!" the Toydarian cried, gaining a few stares from the local drunks in the area around them. "It _is_ you! Ya sure sprouted!"

Anakin tried his hardest not to cringe at that remark. "Hello, Watto."

"A Jedi! Waddya know?" chuckled Watto, a greedy look beginning to grow in his bulbous eyes. "Hey, maybe you couldda help me wit some deadbeats who owe me a lot of money-"

"My mother, Watto," Anakin interrupted. "Where is she?"

"Oh," the Toydarian's previous glee soon fell away, revealing an anxious look on his face. "Oh yeah, Shmi. Ah, she's not mine no more. I sold her."

"Sold her?" Padme blinked at how deep Anakin's voice became.

"Years ago," Watto explained, rubbing one of his bony arms sheepishly. "Sorry, Annie, but you know, business is business. Solder her to a moisture farmer named Lars, least I think it was. Believe it or not, I heard he freed her and married her. Can ya beat that?"

Anakin shook his head, trying to digest what he'd just heard; a moisture farmer bought his mother, and married her? Does he treat her right, or does he simply use her to carry out all the manual labor on his moisture farm while he sat back, and laugh with his buddies at his new wife's predicament. The mere thought boiled Anakin's blood. "Do you know where they are?" he asked tensely.

Watto thought about it for a moment, stroking the many flabs of his meaty neck. "Long way from here. Someplace over on the other side of Mos Eisley, I think."

"I'd like to know."

Watto's facial expressions tightened at that remark, and noticing the grim look in his former slave's eyes, the Toydarian knew that he wasn't in the mood for playing games. "Yeah, sure," he said, a bit too quickly for his taste. "Absolutely. Let's go look at my records."

It didn't take long for the pudgy alien to find his records about Shmi, and her current whereabouts. Apparently, she was living in some old moisture farm stationed in the Great Chott salt flat in the Jundland Wastes... a place that was currently recovering from recent raids that was carried out by the savage Tusken Raiders. Needless to say, the two visitors rushed out of the old shop, ignoring Watto's offers for a drink, and leaving the Toydarian literally in the dust.

 _"Annie du Jedi,"_ he mumbled out, shaking his head fondly at the image of a short, ragged nine-year-old boy coming into work, and always leaving covered in grease and motor oil. "Waddya know."

* * *

Great racks holding glass spheres stretched across the immense room to the end of Obi-Wan's vision. Each glass container held a developing embryo, suspended in a mysterious blue fluid, that made Obi-Wan shiver at the sight of it. To think that these lifeforms, practically brimming in strong waves of life energy, would grow up to become soldiers in an mass-produced army for a Republic that could easily replace one of them with another. While Jedi are suppose to remain placid and calm, even he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable walking around in this facility, surrounded by millions of soldiers that could gun him down with a single command.

"I trust that you are pleased, Master Jedi," he heard Lama Su say. "You'll find that our clones are immensely superior to the regular soldiers of your Republic's army, and the war-droids manufactured by the commerce guilds as well. Our methods have been perfected over many centuries, and that has ensure many that our soldiers are the best in all of the galaxy."

"I see," echoed Obi-Wan. "You must be proud of your achievements."

"But of course," Lama Su replied, sounding proud of himself. "We take a great pride in our combat education and training programs." He suddenly stopped to peer down at a class of kids, no more than ten years of standard age, with the same outfits, the same haircuts, and the exact same features and posture and expressions. Each of them manned a console, whatever was on them was a mystery to the Jedi Knight and he didn't want to know. He just wanted this "tour" to be over quickly.

"Would you like to inspect the final product now?" Obi-Wan shivered at how excited the Prime Minister sounded when he said the word "product". Although their scientific knowledge was very advanced for their time, he still found it unnerving how they treated the clones-living beings made of flesh and blood-as if they were some new toy created by corporations to sell to spoiled-rotten children, and suck their parents wallets dry of any credits. He found himself walking alongside the elegant aliens through the commissary next, where he saw hundreds of adult clones sitting in neat rows at tables, all eating the same food in the same manner.

"You'll find that they are totally obedient," the Prime Minister kept on saying, his assistant nodding in agreement behind him. "We modified their genetic structure to make them less independent than the original, of course."

"And the original was...?"

"A bounty hunter named Jango Fett," Lama Su retorted without any hesitation. "We felt that a Jedi would be the perfect choice, but Sifo-Dyas handpicked Jango himself."

Obi-Wan pursed his lips, having an idea of who masqueraded as the late Sifo-Dyas. _Dooku._ "And where is this bounty hunter now?"

"Oh, he lives here," replied the Prime Minister casually as if they were discussing the weather outside. "But he's free to come and go as he pleases. Apart from his payment, Fett demanded only one thing in return; an unaltered clone for himself. Curious, isn't it?" Obi-Wan nodded warily, recalling several of his past encounters with the heir to the Fett legacy.

"I would very much like to meet this Jango Fett, if you don't mind."

Lama Su looked to his assistant, who nodded and said, "I would be very happy to arrange it for you."

With that being said, the tour soon reached its climax as the trio came to a stop on a balcony, overlooking a huge parade ground. Below them, thousands and thousands of clone troopers, all dressed in pure-white armor and wearing full-face helmets, marched in formation drilled into their minds with all the precision of programmed droids. Entire formations, each made up of hundreds of soldiers, moved in unison as one.

Behind him, Obi-Wan heard Lama Su murmur in admiration. "Magnificent, aren't they?"

* * *

Anakin pushed the Twilight's speed past its normal limits as they barreled their way through the vast deserts of Tatooine, seeing nothing but sand and the occasional Jawa sandcrawler as they made their way toward the Jundland Wastelands. Fear began to weigh heavily on Anakin's shoulders, making everything around him seem sluggish and slower than usual. It had been ten years since he last saw his mother-ten kriffing years!-and he had no idea how she would react to his return. Would she welcome him with open arms, tears streaming down her aged cheeks in waves. Would she reject him, citing to stay with her new husband and abandon everything she once held in her previous life.

 _You should be talking, Mr. Jedi,_ a harsh whisper echoed in the back of his skull. _You left her alone to fend for herself against Watto, and the other scum of Mos Espa while you and Obi-Wan went gallivanting across the whole damn galaxy for your dumb little adventures._

"Shut up," he growled to himself, his knuckles turning pure-white as he gripped the control yoke tightly.

"That one," Padme's voice broke him out of his thoughts as he looked and saw what her delicate finger was pointing at. There, in the far distance, was a little speck amidst the brown sands of the Tatooine deserts. Squinting his eyes, his face soon lit up with glee when he noticed what it was; a moisture farm.

They found it.

He let out a shaky breath, feeling his entire body trembling anxiously. "I... I'm really going to see her again," he breathed out.

Sitting next to him, Padme reached over to squeeze his arm in a comforting gesture. "I know," she smiled softly at the nervous Jedi. "Don't be nervous."

"Easier said than done," he chuckled nervously, bringing the ship down on a bluff overlooking the homestead. "It's just... I've left her alone to fend for herself for over ten years, and I haven't even contacted her once during that time. I'm scared that she won't even remember me, or she'll..." his breath hitched as he stared at the farmstand. "Or she'll reject for who I am."

His eyes swelled with tears at the image of the kind woman who raised him from birth, how she tucked into bed or cleaned up the various bruises he received from Watto or a fight from the local bullies. There were nights that he wished that he would put this gods-forsaken planet behind him, and soar through the stars like in the stories he heard about from those old freighter pilots.

But never once did he think about bringing his mom with him on those adventures.

"Oh, Annie," he heard Padme whisper, tensing up when he felt her soft hand on his calloused one. "She wouldn't do that. I know that you're scared, believe me I am too. But in the short time I knew her, your mother had to be one of the most kind-heartened people in this galaxy. Even when you brought us to your home, she didn't protest about housing us or question any of the decisions made by Qui-Gon." The Senator's eyes softened as Anakin's morose expression didn't change a bit. "Trust me, Annie, things won't turn out bad as you think. She's still your mother, and she'll love you regardless of who you now are."

Anakin was silent for a moment, mulling over Padme's words, before sighing to himself. Maybe he was overreacting, it wouldn't be the first time that he's done something like this before. "Thanks, Padme." he said softly, smiling at the Senator who beamed back at him.

"No problem," she replied equally as soft. It didn't take long for Anakin to shut down the Twilight, and make their way out of the ship to the course and rough sands that crunched beneath their boots. With every step he took towards the farmstead, Anakin began to feel more and more nervous at the prospect of a family reunion and prayed that he wouldn't hack up his dinner from the previous night on Padme's clothes.

Suddenly, a droid walked out of the farmstead's entrance, forcing the two visitors to come to a complete halt as they observed its design. It was a very thin droid, dull gray in color, with metal coverings obviously beaten from years of harsh weather conditions. Judging by its stiff movements, Anakin deduced that it was in need of a good oil bath as the droid made its way towards them. Both the Jedi and the Senator exchanged a look, obviously not expecting this development.

"Salutations, sir and madame," it greeted in a tone that would be more suited for a diplomat rather than a labor droid. "How may I be of service to you, today?"

Silence hung in the air like an anvil for a long time. "We're here to see someone," Padme answered slowly. "A Shmi Skywalker, if you know her?"

"Mistress Shmi?" echoed the droid, pleasantly confused. "Oh, I'm afraid that she's-"

"Threepio?" Anakin suddenly said, a look of recognition in his eyes that was soon followed by Padme. This was Threepio, the old droid barely held together by wires and scrap metal during her first visit to this planet ten years ago?

Said droid went silent, studying his creator for a moment before his optics suddenly lit up. "Oh my stars!" Threepio exclaimed, beginning to tremble violently. "By the maker, Master Anakin! Oh, I knew that you would return here one day, I just knew you would!" Padme watched with a smile as the droid hobbled over to his creator, taking his flesh-and-blood hands into his mechanical, rusty ones. "You've grown up to be a bright young man, just as I always knew you would. Oh, my circuits, I'm so pleased to see you again!"

"I am too, Threepio," Anakin laughed genuinely for the first time since their arrival. "But I've actually come to see my mother. Is she somewhere around here?"

The joviality that the droid possessed seemed to die away as it shrunk back from the Jedi's presence in a manner that would indicate that he was flustered by the question. "Oh," he suddenly said. "Oh, dear... I think it would be in our best interests if we were to go indoors for this." He then spun jerkily around on his heel, and made his way back to the homestead, motioning for the duo to follow him.

Exchanging nervous looks, both Anakin and Padme complied without a word and made their way towards the entrance.

* * *

Minutes later after the tour had concluded, and the Prime Minister left to go partake in some sort of meeting with a Kaminoan doctor about the clones' health, Taun We led Obi-Wan through the cloning facility, passing by various Kaminoan aides and grown clones dressed in the typical red outfit they usually wore before ascending to the rank of soldier, nodding at them politely as they passed. At one point, the Jedi Knight had even stopped to assist a deformed clone pick up the blaster rifles that he had accidentally dropped on the way to the armory, the clone looking on in awe at the man's help while Taun We watched the scene with a small smile on her pale face. Apparently, she was one of the rare members of her species that treated the clones like actual individuals instead of business products.

Kenobi's respect for the Kaminoan grew a little higher with that new information.

The door to Jango's room opened up, revealing-not to Obi-Wan's surprise-the young Boba Fett, an exact replica of a mini-Jango, who regarded the cloaked stranger with a wary look in his eyes before it fell away at the sight of Taun We. Stretching out his sense, Kenobi was surprised at the happiness this boy felt when he saw the elegant Kaminoan at his side, and the only logical reasoning that he could think of was that Taun We held some kind of important role in his life; a maternal figure, perhaps?

"Boba," Taun We greeted warmly. "Is your father here?"

Boba nodded back without hesitation. "Yep."

"May we see him?"

"Sure." the boy stepped back, his eyes never leaving Kamino's newest arrival for even a microsecond as the Jedi and Taun We stepped across the threshold. Kenobi watched as the young boy called out for his father, and it didn't take long for the esteemed bounty hunter himself to walk into the frame, dressed in a simple shirt and trousers. His face held many scars, both old and new, with an unshaven stubble on his chin. His body was thicker than the Jedi remembered, but the Mandalorian was still physically imposing, unlike the other Mandalorians he would later encounter in his occasional skirmishes with Pre Vizsla's Death Watch during the Clone Wars. It was quite obvious that the man was clearly on edge, suspicion clear on every line of his scarred face.

Obi-Wan smiled calmly. "Hello there."

Jango grunted in response, not taking his eyes off the odd-looking space monk.

"Welcome back, Jango," Taun We remarked. "Was your trip productive?"

"Fairly," the man casually said, sizing up Obi-Wan as he spoke, his eyes narrowed at him in a not-so hidden gesture of intimidation. "I see Lama Su picked up a new hitchhiker in my absence? What, was Kal too busy spending _quality time_ with the Null boys?" The bounty hunter shook his head, both annoyed, and yet, somewhat amused by the mention of this Kal individual. Obi-Wan didn't know who this mysterious person was, but didn't bother to pressure the already tense Mandalorian for such questions.

"On the contrary, Jango, this is Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi," Taun We said lightly, an attempt to relieve some of the tension in the room. "He's come to check on our progress."

"That right?"

"Your clones are very impressive," Obi-Wan said. "You must be very proud."

The genetic donor shrugged, making a subtle hand motion to Boba. "I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe, Master Jedi," Jango's simple words had little effect on the Jedi as he stared at the sharp canines in the bounty hunter's smile.

"Aren't we all?" Obi-Wan murmured back, eyeing the silver pieces of body armor lying non-obscurely in a small closet in the Fett's quarters. The sight was soon blocked when the younger Fett, obeying his father's command, stepped over to the other side of the room to push a button on a tiny console that sealed the closet shut with an audible 'hiss'. Not that it mattered, Obi-Wan had seen enough in the previous timeline to know that Fett was guilty of treason. _But that doesn't mean that my business here is over yet._

"Tell me, have you ever came into contact with a man by the name of Sifo-Dyas?" the Jedi asked coolly.

Jango's eyes, if possible, grew colder than they already were. "Never heard of anyone with a name as stupid as that one." he scoffed. "If you want my honest opinion, the person probably grew up hating their parents for giving them that name whenever the bullies cornered them in the schoolyard."

"Oh?" Obi-Wan mused innocently. "I thought he was the one who recruited you for the cloning project. You know, the one about the secret army for the Republic?"

"I'm afraid you're wrong, my friend," Jango explained, surprising Obi-Wan by the man's sincerity through the Force. "I was recruited by a man called Tyranus on one of the moons of Bogden..." the bounty hunter paused for a moment, staring out at the dark storm roaring loudly outside with its harsh winds and cold rain. "...do you like your army?"

"Very. I look forward to seeing them in action."

Despite the obvious hostility between the two, Jango gave Obi-Wan a toothy smile that can put a Nexu to shame. "They'll do their job well. I'll guarantee that."

"Thank you for your time, Jango," Obi-Wan said, turning to Taun We and started for the door. On his way out, he heard Jango call out in a barely-concealed threat. "Always a pleasure to meet a Jedi," As usual, the Mandalorians were keen experts in the arts of intimidation as they were in battle, but Obi-Wan was a man who did not let such tactics get to him. Years of fighting against the Separatists across the galaxy, and dealing with both the Tusken Raiders and Jabba's henchmen on Tatooine were prime examples to that testament.

With Taun We next to him, the two left the apartment with the door sliding to a close behind them, quietly secured to any outsiders. Stretching out his feelings, he can sense Jango's frustration climbing to a head, and his son's confusion and slight fear evident to the currents of the Living Force, making the Jedi guess that the two would soon make a hasty exit from the oceanic world very soon.

 _Not if I have anything to say about it, though._

"Now then, Master Kenobi," Taun We's voice brought him out his current state of thinking. "We appreciate your visit to our facility, and are most pleased by your satisfaction of our units, and hope that your next visit will be sooner than our last one."

"Actually," the auburn-haired man interjected with a charming smirk on his face. "I was hoping to know if I could spend the night here to rest 'till tomorrow. With all that time cramped into a small area for several days, I'd say that I at least deserve a warm bed for making such a journey."

Taun We stared, blinking slowly, before a smile graced her features. "I see," she said, bowing humbly at the human before her. "I will consult with the Prime Minister about this, and see if I can arrange a room for you to rest in."

Obi-Wan smiled. "I'd like that."

It didn't take long for the Kaminoans to hastily arrange a room for their esteemed guest of honor; In fact, by Obi-Wan's calculations, it only took them approximately seventeen minutes for them to clean up the room, and another three for him and Taun We to walk to his new quarters. The room was lavish in the standard pure-white background of Tipoca City with the occasional black line marking both the walls and the floor, and a simple-looking bed laying in the middle of the room, silently tempting Kenobi to come over and lie down in it. He would indulge in its silent offer greatly, once he completed his mission. Taun We bid the Jedi Knight a good night, telling him that if he ever needed anything to ring up one of them on the console's communicator. Obi-Wan smiled, and said that he promises not to cause any sort of trouble.

Fifteen minutes later, the Jedi Knight found himself crawling through Tipoca City's ventilation shafts, wincing at the cramped areas of the vents that were incredibly dusty and filled with all sorts of cobwebs. Apparently, Tipoca City wasn't entirely clean as most people thought. He crawled through the air ducts with the stealth of a nexu slowly approaching its prey, careful not to make any loud noise of sort that would alert any nearby Kaminoan aide, or worse, one of their security droids. Ironically enough, the Jedi's eyes flickered down through the shaft that he was currently crawling over to see a Kamino security droid, pure-white and bulky that was hovering above the ground, slowly gliding through the hallway with a bright light shining into the darkened corridors of Tipoca City.

His memory of the facility, while a bit fuzzy, remained mostly intact as he made his way to the point of his destination within the facility. He just hoped he wasn't wrong with his directions of the room. After several minutes of him crawling through the ducts, and carefully making his way through the air fans within the ducts, Obi-Wan then noticed a light up ahead, and felt a smirk grow on his face. _Bingo,_ he thought.

It didn't take long for him to reach the source of light, and he peered out through the air vent obstructing him to see that his intuition was right all along; He had arrived in the embryo room. Tall columns filled with the glowing containers of embryos could be seen as far as the eye could see with small, glowing blue console on every side of each column, a stark contrast to the darkened room that they inhabited in. His eyes then fell upon a shadow, long and bony, operating one of the consoles with the speed of a madman, its posture hunched over. Obi-Wan didn't need the Force to know that this shadow was one of the head genetic scientists for the Kaminoans.

Reaching out with the Force, Obi-Wan slowly unscrews the screws placed within the vents one-by-one before the vent came undone and fell from its position on the wall, rapidly approaching the floor before Obi-Wan outstretches a hand to stop the vent from hitting the ground, mere centimeters away from the polished floor.

After gently lowering the vent to the floor, Obi-Wan then pulled himself out of the cramped air duct, his long legs hanging over the edge before dropping down and landing in the room with a soft audible 'thud'. Pausing, he looked up to see that the Kaminoan scientist was still engrossed in their work, unaware of the intruder in the room. Obi-Wan smirked to himself, rising up from his crouched position and began walking over to the scientist without breaking stride. Coming to a halt before the scientist, Obi-Wan raised a hand to the Kaminoan's body and placed it on a part of the scientist's neck, gripping it ever so slightly.

Like a puppet cut from its strings, the Kaminoan jerked and promptly fainted, its eyes rolling into the back of its head before falling backwards and into Obi-Wan's open arms. The Jedi Knight gently laid the Kaminoan down on the polished floor before turning to stare at the console it was working at. His eyes squinted at the bright display, a side effect of having to crawl through the darkened ventilation shafts for the past several minutes, before they slowly adjusted to the console's brightness after Kenobi blinked his eyes rapidly several times to ease the slight pain it caused.

On the console was a detailed schematic of the cloning facility, each level highlighted individually in a separate area of the sprawling metallic city. His eyes skimmed over each part, naming them off silently inside his head. _Central Armory, Security Sector Six, Military Complex... I know it's around here somewhere, but where-wait a minute._

His eyes narrowed at a small sector of the facility, overshadowed by the much larger educational complex, and clicked on it. He grinned at the name that popped up; _Clone Embryo Chamber._

Tapping on the highlighted area, a list of the key parts of the room popping up on a menu screen in clear Aurebesh. He trailed over the list until he came to a stop at the bottom, causing a frown to appear on his face. Out of all the categories he had read, there was nothing that had to do with the bio-chip or anything to do with Order 66.

However, he noticed a small icon at the bottom of the screen that was blinking red. Curious, he clicked on it and the screen went black for a moment, making Obi-Wan fear that he had been lured into a trap until the projection of a Kaminoan scientist appeared on-screen. What was this?

 _ **"Log Date: 7-15-18948 PGF; This is Ko Sai,"**_ The Kaminoan, now identified as Ko Sai, spoke in a slow, melodic voice. **_"Today, Tipoca City received a visitor from the outside, one that we've grown to receive over the course of several decades. Magister Hego Damask of Damask Holdings came here today, the first time in a long time, and the first time he was alone. But it was his request that peeked my curiosity; He had come here with the questions of whether or not our cloning facility is capable of producing soldiers based off of the blood-sample of a member for the Yinchorri race. The other scientists and I pointed out about how the Yinchorri's natural aggression would be extremely difficult to control in a military environment and interfere with their ability to obey orders. He eventually ceded to our reasoning, but offered to fund a project with the genetic template of a more acquiescent race to serve his cause. The Homo Sapiens species were his next choice, despite our limited experience with their kind, but we should be able to contain their emotionalism with our doctrines. He left, not so long ago, promising us that Damask Holdings would be more than sufficient to help fund the project; We know not when he will return, but we shall await his future requests. Ko Sai, signing off."_**

There was no words to describe the flood of emotions Obi-Wan was going through at this moment. _Hego Damask? Damask Holdings? Creating soldiers based of the Yinchorri species?_ Just how far back did the idea of the clone army go to, especially considering the fact that the Sith never had any kind of dealings or influence over the Banking Clan until the final months of the war, and the Empire's nationalization of the IBC not long after Palpatine's declaration of a new order.

A brief thought entered into his mind, but it was one that sent chills down his spine; Could it be? Had some members of the Rule of Two had ties to some of the commerce guilds over the millennium following the end of the Ruusan campaign, knowingly sabotaging its finances to sow seeds of dissent against the Republic?

The next log date began playing. _**"Log Date: 5-25-18969; This is Ko Sai. It's been over twenty years, but Magister Damask's request of a clone army has come to fruition. Today, we received two new guests to Tipoca City; A Jedi Master by the name of Sifo-Dyas, and a Mandalorian bounty hunter named Jango Fett. Unfortunately, we have recently been informed of Magister Damask's demise by Master Sifo-Dyas, though the Prime Minister suspected that something was amiss when the fundings for the clone army suddenly stopped during the last seasonal change. However, Master Sifo-Dyas was gracious enough to continue the funding for the project, along with offering Mr. Fett as the genetic template for the army. However, Mr. Fett had but one condition if we were to proceed any further; He demanded a clone for himself without the genetic tampering of its age-limit. It's quite the conundrum, but one that we are capable of performing. Though it truly is a shame with Magister Damask's passing, he truly was a brilliant man in his own right, even more so than the late Rugess Nome. But we shall adapt to this change, such is the way of life itself."**_

 _So that's how Dooku managed to convince Jango,_ Obi-Wan thought, surprised at the revelation of Boba being a younger clone of the Mandalorian warrior. _But why did Jango want an unaltered clone for himself, and how does this 'Hego Damask' tie into all of this?_

 _ **"Log Date: 6-4-18969; This is Ko Sai,"**_ Unlike the previous recordings, Ko Sai looked to be irritated about something. **_"At the time of this recording, the first batch of clones are in the embryo stage with the number estimating over two hundred thousand units that, if our calculations are correct, should be ready for combat within a decade,"_** She then trailed off, a brief look of anger flashing on her face. _**"However, I am still unsatisfied by the recent development concerning the bio-chips."**_

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, a feeling of dread bubbling up inside his stomach.

 ** _"We originally had the idea of implanting an inhibitor chip into the embryos development stage, as a way to ensure that the units had limited independence and aggression when performing the more... questionable protocols that we were instructed to teach them as they grew older, but Mr. Fett put a stop to that when he caught us trying to implant one into his own undeveloped clone, Boba, if I recall. He demanded us to destroy all of the inhibitor chips that we created and stay away from the Boba, or else, he would raze this entire facility to the bottom of the ocean. When the Prime Minister caught word of this, he supported Mr. Fett's decision but on the condition that he partook in both the physical and psychological parts of the clones' training. The others agreed to this without complaint, but I am... infuriated by this decision, as the clones may inherit Jango's violent tendencies, and could openly rebel against us and their superiors during the heat of battle. Should the day come, I will watch from afar, as all our hard work comes crashing down thanks to the threats of a barbaric brute's 'feelings'. I only pray that Master Sifo-Dyas has mercy on us for this decision."_**

There the recordings stop, leaving Obi-Wan alone in the dark to muse over this shocking revelation. The clones... don't have an inhibitor chip inside their skull, but rather follow along the protocols like drones. This wasn't what he had expected at all, and even worse so, this changed a key part in his plans to save the Jedi Order; His original intentions was to re-write the command of Order 66 into helping the Jedi Order survive Palpatine's purge, but now it turns out that there wasn't any inhibitor chips. Why? So far, the events in this timeline seemed to match up with the ones in the original, save for him saving Zam Wessell and talking to Palpatine to limit the man's influence over Anakin, but this?

The room started spinning, and he saw spots beginning to cloud his line of vision. Obi-Wan had to get out of this room, quickly, before his already throbbing head could send him into some kind of panic attack.

By the time that the unconscious Kaminoan scientist awoke, Obi-Wan was already long gone from the area.

* * *

When a call beamed to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant was using scramble code 5, and was marked in the care of "the old folks home", Mace Windu and Yoda knew that it was important. Extremely important. Inside Yoda's lavish quarters, the hologram of Obi-Wan Kenobi appeared before them. He looked to be on edge, glancing repeatedly over his shoulder, but Windu narrowed his eyes at the Jedi's expression; It was a mask, a well-crafted one at that, but the Korun could make out faint traces of shock and disbelief within his eyes, something that Windu had never seen come out of Kenobi in... well, ever.

 _"Masters, I have successfully made contact with the Kaminoan people, more importantly their Prime Minster, Lama Su."_

Yoda nodded in approval. "Very good, Master Kenobi. Presume I do that the answers we seek, you have found, yes?"

Obi-Wan hesitated. _"Yes..."_ The two masters glanced at each other. _"...and no, Master Yoda."_

"What do you mean by that?" Windu asked, folding his hands underneath his chin in contemplation. Next to him, Yoda merely closed his eyes. "Your mission was to track down Senator Amidala's assassin, as well as to find out who 'Tyranus' is? Are you saying that you haven't made contact with either one of them?"

 _"No, Master. I've tracked down Jango Fett to Kamino, and have learned that the Kaminoans are using him as a genetic template to create a clone army."_

Mace's eyebrows rose. "An army?"

 _"For the Republic,"_ came Obi-Wan's startling answer. _"What's more, I have also learned that there have been many attempts to create this army dating back to approximately thirty years ago."_

"Is there a chance that this Tyranus may have had a hand in the army's creation?"

Again, Obi-Wan hesitated. _"I'm... not sure, but I have a strong feeling that he may have."_

"Do not be hasty to assume anything, Obi-Wan," Yoda advised. "Clear, your mind must be if you are to discover the real villain behind this plot."

 _"Yes, Master,"_ Obi-Wan said. _"From what I've seen from the Kaminoans data-logs, a 'Magister Damask' has tried to create a clone army for himself many times in the past, the first attempt being with the cloning of Yinchorri warriors, but was rejected due to the species' aggression and resistance towards obeying orders. The current clone army that I've seen today has been in development for the past ten years, and that the first legion of clones are ready for combat with another million well on the way to completion."_

"A million clone soldiers?" Windu echoed in disbelief.

"Magister Damask?" Yoda echoed, narrowing his eyes.

 _"Yes, Masters. If you may forgive me for asking, but who is this Damask person? I've never heard of a being like him before."_

Yoda hesitated, but Windu continued for him. "Magister Damask _was_ Hego Damask II, the creator of Damask Holdings for the IBC."

 _"Was?"_

"Long passed, he has," Yoda whispered, mostly to himself. "An unfortunate accident on the night of Valorum's vote-of-no-confidence."

 _"Ah, I see."_ Obi-Wan looked like he wanted to say more, but held back for some odd reason. Windu saw this, and was about to comment, when the hologram projection continued speaking. _"With your permission, Masters, I request for the authority to arrest Jango Fett with the authorization of the High Council."_

"Request granted," Windu replied without hesitation. "Take this Jango Fett into custody, and bring him here. We will see all the questions to this plot is solved, that I can assure you."

 _"Understood, Masters. Kenobi out."_

"A clone army," Windu remarked, alone with Yoda, as the hologram winked out. "Why would Hego Damask-"

"An odd being, Magister Damask was," Yoda said. "Wise and possessed a logical mind, he did, but shrouded in secrecy and mystery his activities were. Closely connected he was with Dooku..."

Windu filled in for the gap that Yoda left open. "You believe that he had a hand in the separatist movement, over ten years after his death? Forgive me, Master Yoda, but that just sounds ludicrous. There's no way a dead man, even one as influential as Hego Damask was, could have affected the current state of today's affairs from beyond the grave. It's impossible."

"Many shadows lurk within the darkness," Yoda remarked. "Multiplying, our adversaries are, so to does the mysteries behind this plot. Fear I do that find hidden skeletons, we will." The aged master shook his head, looking every bit as worn and tired with the simple gesture. "Only the Dark Lords of the Sith know of our weakness, and take advantage of our lack of vision, they will."

* * *

Padme stepped out of the old moisture farm to see the form of Anakin staring out over the empty desert, watching the setting twin suns in the distance bath the area around them with golden colors. His posture was tense, his shoulders tight as a claw fish's jaws around its prey. Ever since the old man named Cliegg had told the two travelers about Shmi's horrible predication - captured, and held hostage by a tribe of blood-thirsty Tusken Raiders - Anakin hadn't said one word to her, only resolving to track down his mother with his stepbrother - Owen Lars - loaning the young Jedi his speederbike.

She quietly moved towards Anakin, who suddenly spoke without turning. "You're staying here with the others. They're good people, you'll be safe."

"Anakin-"

"I know she's alive," he said, still glaring at the twin suns.

From behind, Padme wrapped her arms around his torso in a tight embrace. "Find her," she whispered. "Bring her back home."

"I won't be long."

Padme could only watch with tears in her eyes as the speeder rocketed away across the dunes with her guardian at the bike's helm. She quietly prayed to Shiraya to keep him, and his mother, safe from harm. Yet a small, cynical part of her believed that it would still be not enough.

* * *

Jango briskly made his way towards the landing pad holding the Slave I, Boba following him in his shadow. Ever since his meeting with the Jedi, the Mandalorian had instructed his son to pack their things while contacting Tyranus to inform him of this new development. Oddly enough, the old man didn't seem troubled, but rather... amused, as if he was secretly enjoying some private joke that Jango didn't know about. Despite that, Tyranus ordered Jango to relocate to the planet Geonosis to help in the preparations in the final phase of Tyranus's little operation. Jango, of course, knew what his operation actually was, knew what the consequences of the old man's actions would lead to.

War.

For the first time in nearly a thousand years, total war would be unleashed upon the galaxy after centuries of false peace and restrained tension between the wealthy bureaucrats of the Core Worlds and the dirt-poor residents of the Outer Rim. Tyranus had already laid out the foreground of what the war would bring out, and it sent a chill down Jango's spine; the galaxy would be torn asunder, fire would rain down from the skies of neutral worlds, countless civilizations and races will be wiped out, all to pave the way for a fresh start, for a new order.

An Empire.

Jango was many things; ruthless, cold-hearted, calculating, and conniving to say the least, but the tales that Tyranus spoke of promised anarchy and chaos for the galaxy in the coming years forced the bounty hunter to look for hiding places until the fighting dies down. He didn't care if he died, having accepted the idea of death ever since his days with the True Mandalorians decades prior, but he'd be damned to leave his son - Jaster's legacy - to fend for himself in a lawless galaxy.

"Dad." Boba's voice - soft and quiet - broke him out of his musings and he looked behind to see the boy, looking very much like he did as a boy before the Death Watch killed all childhood innocents on Concord Dawn, staring out towards the landing pad with a look of fear in his eyes. Jango looked up to see what the boy was staring at, and rage burned hotly through his veins.

There, standing on the landing platform with a serene smile, was the Jedi Knight who dared to come to his new home and threaten him without a care in the whole damn galaxy. Behind him, the Slave I's charred wreckage burned brightly in the midst of the raging storm taking place outside of the facility.

And throughout all this, Jango saw the Jedi's lips move to form a single phrase that somehow managed to enrage Jango even more.

"Hello there." was what the Jedi said.


End file.
